Lab Rat
by Angel360-Devil0
Summary: The year is 2016. A 25 year old biochemist is on the run from another evil biochemist. But things aren't always what they appear. ON PERMANENT HIATUS.
1. Dana Anders

**A/N: **New TDI fic! Yay! I'm not giving away anything, but there is one TDI character mentioned already, but who is this main character I have made up? She should be pretty easy to guess, but things aren't always what they seem. It might seem vague, but trust me, this is to set the tone, and things will get much, much better come next chapter. The plot will come to reveal itself (along with many backstories) as this fanfic progresses.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Total Drama franchise, Dollhouse, or Mirror's Edge. The last two's ideas will be used later, and you will see why the Total Drama franchise becomes important. Very, very important.

* * *

It was a cold, rainy morning in Los Angeles, California, unusual for the City of Angels. US Marshal William Reese went to 4040 3rd Street to check up on US Protection Witness Simone Peters, her real name being Dana Anders.

She was born on February 4, 1991 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From the beginning of her childhood, anyone could see that she was a child prodigy. She excelled in school and sports, especially swimming. Her parents greatly geared her towards doing well in school in order to get a high paying job one day. As a child and all throughout her school years, even through college, she alienated herself in order to exceed in class. At 21, she was recruited by Massorian Pharmaceuticals—specifically Christopher Maclean—as a biochemist for Research and Development. She was sent to Singapore, Singapore in 2014 (because she was one of the best biochemists in the world) to work abroad. Her boss, Christopher Maclean, was involved in making biochemical weapons for China and Korea and was discovered in 2016 by Dana Anders herself.

Dana was leaving after another long day in the lab. She was walking by Christopher's office when she heard voices. Despite her moral codes, she eavesdropped on their conversation.

"Are they ready?" A guy with a Chinese accent asked.

"They're near completion. I can assure you these are the most dangerous weapons money can buy, even more expensive than black market dealings. Just distribute them through the toys you make, and they'll soon infect almost every single person in the United States." Chris responded. Dana gasped quietly when she heard this. She decided to eavesdrop some more.

"Very good. But you said they aren't complete. What is keeping you from completing them? The deadline is this Saturday."

"I plan on testing it on my biochemists here. Distribute it amongst them, and watch them die—hopefully. I can always get more biochemists; they line up at this building almost every day. Besides, these are my dispensable biochemists—save one. I'm planning on letting her join my team."

"Who is this biochemist you speak of?"

"Dana Anders. Twenty-five years of age, the youngest biochemist in the world. I can make her accomplish great things because I know she can do it. She has the smarts."

"Do not fail me Mr. Maclean. It is your life on the line." Dana calmly started to walk, suspecting that the Chinese man would find her if she stayed any longer. The man saw her, as did Christopher, and they wanted her dead. It was Thursday, March 14, 2016.

Dana immediately reported to the Canadian Embassy in Singapore. She quietly took an audio tape from a tape recorder stuffed in her white Dolce & Gabbana bag and put it in a yellow envelope for the head of the RCMP. After that, she left the building and went back to her own home, a condo. The next day, she received a call from the embassy telling her to report to them immediately for further questioning. She took a lie detector test (now mandatory; it has improved) and answered a long string of questions.

"How am I going to get back to work without arousing suspicion?" Dana asked the interrogator after he was done asking his questions.

"Just say that you were doing calculations all night and that you overslept." He responded. Dana had done that before; she wasn't so sure why she wouldn't use that excuse now—much less think of it on her own.

Christopher kept a close eye on Dana. He was highly suspicious of her, and he almost killed her a few times that day—through "accidents" of course. She managed to avoid them, but they were through deft movements, as though she possessed super speed or super strength. Christopher noticed this and immediately tried to kill her, despite him saying that he wanted her to join him—he saw that it was impossible. She was too good for her own good.

When Dana got home that day, around 7 PM, she saw that her home had been ransacked. Nothing was missing, but everything was an utter mess. As she was cleaning everything, she found a note and a plane ticket. She immediately read the note.

_Dana Anders, you must leave the country. Christopher is on to you; you need to leave and never return. He's expecting this, so the Embassy in the United States will protect you. You'll be placed not in our Witness Protection Program, but the FBI's. This note should be taped to a plane ticket, a one-way flight to Los Angeles International Airport. When you arrive and gather your things, there will be a chauffeur waiting for you to immediately take you to your new home. The flight leaves at 10 PM, so immediately report to Changi International Airport to board your flight. Take care, RCMP interrogator James Umbriel_

Dana immediately packed her necessities into a suitcase, reasoning that she could always get new clothes to disguise her looks. She quickly hailed a taxi and reported immediately to Changi International Airport. She boarded her flight and soon enough, she was gone to the United States, across an ocean and a dateline. Once she arrived at LAX, she was immediately driven to her new home, a nice big home in a rich neighborhood. She had everything now: a new identity, a new life, a new job, everything.

In Singapore, Christopher was not satisfied when he was arrested. He resolved to break out, and the Chinese man assisted him in doing so—at least, the man's cronies did.

"You have failed, and we should kill you now. That is why we broke you out. However, the boss wants you to do one thing for him. If you complete his request, you won't die. If, however, you are caught again—and we will know—we will kill you ourselves."

"What is his request?"

"You must find this biochemist you spoke of. Dana Anders?"

"Yes. You have my word."

"We will leave you to your own devices. And you will be given as much time as you like." Christopher was skeptical about this. Dana could be impossible to find now that the RCMP knew about him. Who knows where she could be? And how much time did he REALLY have? The cronies were gone, and Christopher was in a hotel room, registered under William T. Morrison.

This is where the tale of Dana Anders ends…and Simone Peters' begins.

* * *

**A/N: **So if you can guess who Dana Anders/Simone Peters is, you get a preview of the next chapter! I need to improve my prizes...Anyway, I know Chris may seem OOC (he's not smart or that evil), but just work with me here. There is a very good reason why he is a biochemist and why he is that evil, and it will reveal itself in time. I don't think the Chinese man's name will be revealed anytime soon--maybe even never. If you know where William T. comes from, tell me! I'll think of another cool prize!


	2. Simone Peters

**A/N: **Yo! Second chapter comin' at you! You'll now find out which TDI characters are instrumental in the entire fanfic. And let me make this clear: this is in no way related to my Twisted Dramas series. The real sci-fi part is going to come in two more chapters, maybe even the next one! Either way, this is going to become action packed soon enough. In the meantime, enjoy some nice romance! This is chapter two. Thoughts are italicized, flashbacks are separate italicized paragraphs, and present day is regular text. Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

Simone Peters lived on 4040 3rd Street. She worked in UCLA's biochemistry branch, trying to come up with new medicines for life-threatening diseases. Simone Peters was also born in 1991, but she wasn't a child prodigy; just a very smart student. She had rich parents, both involved in the government. She had friends and a social life, unlike Dana Anders, and she had lived in Los Angeles for most of her life. She had previous dreams of going into law, but decided against it after a particularly heinous scandal. After graduating from university, she came back to Los Angeles to work in UCLA.

There are two things to know about Simone Peters: she was paid highly for her job, which she didn't focus on outside of UCLA, and she loved to walk. That was nearly impossible in Los Angeles, but she managed to walk through downtown anyway.

At this point in time, Christopher has long left Singapore. He first searched thoroughly in Southeast Asia, then India, then China, and was now working his way up to Japan. He had his sights set on the United States, specifically Los Angeles. Little did he know that Dana was hiding out there and nowhere in Asia.

It was Simone's 26th birthday, Saturday, February 18, 2017 (she had actually been 26 for a few weeks, her birthday was actually on February 4th). It had only been a year since she had started living in Los Angeles, and to celebrate, she decided to walk through downtown—thoroughly walk. She loved to walk, because she was Dana Anders, and therefore had a lot on her mind. She didn't want to worry too much, but it was in her personality to worry. And of course, she often lost her sense of perception when thinking about such things, and at Rodeo Drive, she was crossing the street—at the wrong time, just when a Metro bus was coming her way. A man in a crowd of people also waiting to cross (the other people were calling out to her to stop; she didn't listen) ran right into the street and pulled her out. She was saved just in time; the bus's side passed within millimeters of her face, almost scraping her nose. When she was brought back to the sidewalk, she fainted. The man felt her body go limp and just barely saved her from slamming her head on the pavement.

"Crap. I save someone, and they faint. I guess karma's still biting me in the ass after all these years." He cursed under his breath. His home wasn't too far away, so he resolved to bring her there. Why not a hospital or a free clinic? Who knows? He felt, for some reason that he HAD to bring her to his shabby apartment. That if he didn't, karma would go biting his ass some more and it might actually kill him. Not that it had come close before (which it did…about, oh, 20 times), but you never know when karma might actually complete its task. So he shrugged and took her to his place.

Surprisingly, his apartment was clean. His ex had rubbed off on him, at least, before she left him. He had never been able to find another girl quite like her, and he was still searching for her. His ex, not another girlfriend. He had given up THAT search a long time ago. But when he set her down on his bed and got a good look at her face, he almost collapsed in shock. _She looks just like her. _He slowly left the room to cook something for himself and left a little bit for the mysterious girl—another little nuance that had rubbed off on him from his ex.

Simone, when she came to, quietly groaned. Then, she finally summoned up enough courage to ask aloud where she was. She knew she wasn't in a hospital; otherwise, there'd be equipment and everything would be white and light blue. The room she was in was somewhat dark, and for some reason, the walls were olive green and the carpets were beige. _Weird color choice._ And the bed was just a normal bed—albeit light green and black—but a normal bed nevertheless. _These colors don't go together at all. I wonder who's stupid enough to think of these colors. _

The man had heard Simone ask where she was and immediately went back to his room, where she still was. _If she didn't decide to go wandering around. _She hadn't, and when Simone saw the man, she screamed.

"WHO ARE YOU?! WHERE AM I?! DID YOU RAPE ME?!" All of those questions had been on her mind, and they just erupted once she saw him. The man turned on the light in his room to get an even better look at her face. And what he saw almost made him want to turn and run. _Oh, fate's a bitch. Same goes for karma._ He didn't let his shock show, and decided to play it cool around Simone.

"Calm down," he smirked. "Princess."

Simone didn't know who Princess was. "That's not my name. And who are you?"

"Oh really Courtney?"

"That's not my name either. So who are you?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You're Courtney, my Princess, my ex who left me eight years ago to pursue her career in college. We met on a reality TV show called Total Drama Island and stayed together for the three seasons Chris threw at us. After that, we stayed together for a year until my bad streak started to really crease you and you just up and left."

"I don't know who she is. I don't know the reality show or who this Chris person is." Simone calmly answered, then scanned the man with her eyes. He was nothing special; black hair, light wash jeans, white tee-shirt, and barefoot since he was on carpet. What stood out most of all were his bright blue eyes—and the faint remains of piercings. "And I'm so sure that she loved a guy who had piercings and probably went to Juvie many times over."

"Read me like a book Princess."

"And stop calling me that!" She huffed. "Okay, I'll tell you my name first."

"I…wouldn't do that. I'll go first." The man sighed. _I can't believe I have to tell PRINCESS, OF ALL PEOPLE, who I am._ "I'm Duncan Sanders. And what you said is true: I went to Juvie and had piercings on my face. I met Courtney—you—and my life was changed. She kept me from going to Juvie, partly because she literally kept me on lockdown after the three seasons of Total Drama, and because she taught me a ton of things. Things a GIRL would do, but they managed to help me now."

* * *

"_Duncan! You are so gross!" Courtney yelled when she stepped into his room._

"_Aw, and here I thought you liked bad boys who don't clean their room."_

"_Uh...NO! SO CLEAN IT! Or…" Courtney whispered something VERY explicit into Duncan's ear. Whatever it was, it got him to clean. But his room always fell into a mess after she left, so each time, he'd have to clean his room until it just fell into habit. A habit he wasn't very proud of, but a habit. _

* * *

"You'd probably be stuck in a pile of trash were it not for her teaching me how to clean, making me clean, all of that stuff. During senior year, we went to the same school and I got framed for something I didn't do. However, you tried to get me out, and failed. You failed so many times, and just gave up. You called me one day, and said you were breaking up with me."

* * *

"_Duncan!" Courtney sobbed over the phone._

"_What?"_

"_I…we…" She broke into sobs all over again. Duncan knew exactly where this was leading._

"_You're breaking up with me, aren't you?"_

"_My parents…and my future…" Duncan got enraged at this point._

"_DAMN THEM BOTH! Look Princess, you need to focus on now. What do you want right now?" Silence on the other line. Then a slow, quiet, and shaky response._

"_I want you out of jail right now. I want you back so much, but I can't. My parents are threatening to disown me if I don't break up with you right now. So right now, I want to break up with you." Courtney didn't even give Duncan time to scream at her, because the line went dead._

* * *

"And with that, I never heard from you again—until now, because you're here in my room. After I got out of jail (when they finally found out I was innocent—it took them a year), I moved as far away from Canada as I could get: Los Angeles. I actually took up a number of jobs: one teaching job at a high school, I became a police officer for a short time, and other odd jobs that I could get. I found out after I quit my job as a police officer that I wanted to prevent kids from becoming two things: just like me (without you) and not with a police officer like I used to be. So I got into counseling at the local high school and now counsel the "bad kids" that are so abundant around here. I keep them from turning to gangs, getting out of gangs, all of that stuff. I've been there for around 5-6 years and this apartment for the seven years I've been here." Simone was in shock. Duncan obviously thought she was Courtney, his long lost love, and Simone didn't know what to say. It seemed that he had reformed himself after Courtney left him, and she thought it sweet, but it would've been better if she could see Courtney herself. _But if I look just like her, how can I do that?_

"Okay. I'm Simone Peters, NOT Courtney. I've lived in Los Angeles almost all of my life and I work in UCLA as a biochemist." Simone was rattling off her fake self emotionlessly. Duncan noticed.

"That's a lie and you know it. Now tell me who you really are, Courtney."

"MY NAME IS NOT COURTNEY! And why should I tell you my real name? You probably raped me for all I know."

"I didn't if it makes you feel any better. I was making food for myself."

"Where's the proof?" Duncan grabbed Simone's hand and pulled her off the bed and dragged her to his kitchen. Sure enough, there was a plate of now cold pasta on the table.

"I left a little for you, but now I'm not so sure I want to leave you any." Simone was in shock yet again. _This Duncan character keeps surprising me._

"Oh…um…thank you…Duncan." _I can't believe it, she even talks like her. She hasn't changed a bit since I last saw her…but she does look MUCH hotter._ Simone had mocha colored skin, onyx eyes, freckles dotting her nose, brown hair that went to her mid-back, but what she was wearing was a little different from what Duncan remembered Courtney would wear. _If she's even Courtney, WHICH SHE IS._ Simone had a day off, so she was wearing some dark blue skinny jeans and a black tank top with a green long coat over it. Despite it being the afternoon, it was pretty cold.

"Yeah, well, I'm not the same person I was eight years ago." _I've gone softer. Damnit._ Duncan mentally cursed to himself some more as Simone slowly sat down and ate the cold pasta. _She might as well eat it. That was mine, but I can always make more._ "So, what is your name then, SIMONE?" She stopped eating.

"I…can't…tell you." She looked down to her plate, defeated.

"It's not like you're being protected by the FBI or something." She kept looking down, and Duncan took the hint. "What's your real name?"

"We're not being watched, are we?" Duncan shook his head. "I'm Dana Anders. I've been placed under the Witness Protection Program to keep myself safe and away from Christopher Maclean, my boss."

"What? Chris Maclean?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"Know him? I hated him. He was the host of the reality show we met on. But him? Being a biochemist? Impossible."

"Well he is. He's my boss, and he was making a deal with the Chinese to spread some sort of biochemical weapon through their toys." She continued eating Duncan's pasta, and Duncan took a seat at the table.

"This is weird. And I know you're Courtney. So don't try to lie to me just to block me out of your mind."

"FOR THE LAST TIME, MY NAME IS NOT COURTNEY!"

"Oh, I know you're her. You talk like her, you act like her, but as for the job choice…Courtney was into government and law, not so much science. But it doesn't matter. I know you're her. So if you ever get a flashback about me, give me a call." Duncan got out a small piece of paper and scribbled his name, address, and phone number on it. Simone took the paper and stuffed it into her coat pocket.

"And goodbye." Simone huffed before she turned to the door, walked out, and slammed it. Simone took a deep breath in before walking out of the apartment building and walking back home. She didn't feel like celebrating her birthday anymore.

Up in his apartment, Duncan realized that she probably didn't know her way back home. Where he lived was a pretty confusing place, so despite every fiber in his being telling him not to, he took a coat and his car keys and headed out to find Simone. As he was about to walk outside, Simone was coming inside—coincidentally—to find Duncan and ask him where the nearest bus stop was. They both bumped into each other, and while Duncan managed to stay on his two feet, Simone didn't, and she was falling down to the pavement—again. And Duncan managed to keep her from slamming her head—again.

"Wow Princess, you're becoming just like Bridgette." He chuckled as he brought her back on her two feet.

"Who's Bridgette?"

"Uh…never mind. I'm driving you home."

"NO!" Simone suddenly yelled. Duncan turned around, looking at her with an eyebrow—or brow (he still had his trademark unibrow, but the Mohawk was long gone)—quirked. "I mean…who's Bridgette?"

"Bridgette was one of your best friends from TD. You don't remember her? Hmph, you must have one serious case of amnesia Princess." He looked at her quizzically again. "I'm still taking you home." He grabbed Simone's hand (she was frozen in shock) and started to lead her out the door to his parked blue Toyota Avalon. He would've gotten a Prius (due to Courtney's influence; the car was also much cheaper than it was a decade ago), but an Avalon was cheaper still. When Simone finally regained her senses, she started arguing with Duncan.

"I'm not going! I just want to know where the nearest bus stop is so I can take the bus."

"You don't want to take the bus at this hour. It's getting dark, and there could be predators lurking about."

"You mean people like you?" Simone said, although she was unconsciously getting into the car with Duncan.

"Looks like you're gaining back some of your memory. Let's go." Duncan turned the key in the ignition and started backing out of his parking space.

"You don't even know where you're supposed to take me!"

"Well then, why don't you tell me, darling?"

"Just drop me off at the Grove. Surely you know where that is." Simone spat with disgust.

"Nope. You're telling me where you live, because I'm not going to risk you being in a hit-and-run accident."

"Fine. First Street."

"Well alright then. Was that so hard?" _Yes. But at least you don't know where I really live._ However, Simone got a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach as she stole glances at Duncan for the entire car ride. She soon found that she couldn't lie to him for some strange reason.

"Wait!" She suddenly blurted out as they were about five minutes into their drive.

"What is it?" Duncan breathed out, somewhat frustrated by Simone. He knew she was Courtney, but as to why she seemed to have a bad case of amnesia…that was certainly the million dollar question.

"I changed my mind. Drop me off at the Grove."

"So you don't REALLY live on First Street, do you Princess?"

"Third Street. But you don't breathe a word of this to anyone. I don't want US Marshals breathing down your neck—or mine."

"Aw, you really care for me. Considering that you only met me about five hours ago, you're placing a lot of trust in me. Sure you still don't recognize me?"

"I'm positive." Simone looked out the passenger window, at the lights of the city passing by. It was silent for the rest of the car ride; only shallow breathing and the hum of cars could be heard. Once the two arrived at the Grove, Simone told Duncan one last thing before she left. "Don't come looking for me."

"Well, do I get a goodbye kiss?" Duncan smirked for the first time in a long, long time.

"Dream on. I'm not Courtney, so don't come looking for me."

"I have every intention of doing so." Simone rolled her eyes before slamming the passenger door and melting into the crowd of people walking about. Duncan smiled to himself. _Whether or not she's Courtney, she SO wants me._ He drove back home to his apartment.

Meanwhile, Simone was thinking about Duncan. In fact, her thoughts about him persisted while she was walking home, getting ready to go to bed, and right through to the next day. She even looked over the sheet of paper with Duncan's address and phone number numerous times. That night, while she was having a candlelight dinner by herself, she took the small sheet of paper and held it over the candle, effectively burning it. She thought it would erase itself from her memory; on the contrary, it burned it into her mind.

For the next week, her life was a blur. The only time that everything really seemed clear was when she was thinking about Duncan. _I only knew the guy for five hours, and I can't get him out of my head?! What's happening to me?!_ She knew the answer though—she had developed a HUGE crush on him. That Sunday night, while she was sleeping, a group of five robbers broke into her home. They went straight to her room, but somehow, they woke her up. She attempted to scream, but a hand flew to her mouth.

"Shut up and write a suicide note. We're taking you far away from here." A gun was cocked and pointed to her head, so she quickly wrote a suicide note.

_I'm leaving. Don't come looking for me. –Simone Peters_

She prayed that the message would somehow be decoded into a cry for help. She signed her name, taking care that a part of her signature underlined the words look, for, and me.

"Done?" She slowly nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "This will only hurt for a second." A sharp pain overcame her body, and the world went black. In her place, there was an exact replica of Simone, sprawled on the floor, blood gushing out of a gunshot wound in her head, and the gun was in her hands. One of the men shot their gun, and soon, the whole neighborhood was awake, but the five men were quicker; they were gone, speeding far, far away.

* * *

**A/N: **Ah, so now you know who Simone/Dana really is! Betcha didn't see that one coming! Where are the five robbers taking Simone/Dana/Courtney? And *gasp*! Duncan is a counselor for juvenile kids, and lives in LA! Will he go looking for Simone/Dana/Courtney?! You betcha! And what's up with Chris becoming a biochemist?! More TDI characters to come, more backstories to be developed, more romance and action taking place, IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! Review everyone!

Damnit, that was very Chris-like.


	3. CSI:LA

**A/N: **Sorry this took me a while. I wanted to get my character roles just right, and I'm still working out a few more roles, along with more stuff that's going to happen in the future. **Note:** this is highly based on **CSI: Miami**. I love that show, and I used it as my model for all of the actions in this chapter. And this is going to start becoming HIGHLY futuristic. So review, disclaimer is in the first chapter!

Oh, and happy early Valentine's Day! Or Singles' Appreciation Day! And...Happy Friday the 13th!

* * *

"So what do we have here?" A much more mature Lieutenant Geoff Carte asked the coroner, a close friend of his, a much slimmer Sandrine "Sadie" Morson. Geoff had gotten more serious over the past few days. His fiancée, Bridgette Loews, had been kidnapped a few days ago.

"Gunshot wound to the temple, gun in her hand. She looks young."

"A suicide…any ID?"

"Don't need it. Come, you need to see for yourself." She beckoned Geoff to follow her inside the house and up to the bedroom to where Simone's fake body was.

"Oh my God, is that…?" Geoff asked out loud.

"It's Courtney all right. But here's the weird thing: it's not actually her. Apparently, this is the home of a Simone Peters." Geoff looked at the body, and then looked around the room. Sadie continued her monologue. "Simone has lived in LA all her life, at least, according to what I was briefed on. And we both know Courtney has never set a foot in LA."

"How can you be so sure that's Courtney?" Noah, now a crime scene investigator (CSI), asked the two reality show has-beens. Then again, he was one himself.

"She looks just like her dude." Geoff refuted. He still had a little bit of his old liveliness from his teenage days.

"We can't be absolutely sure until we test her DNA or pull up a full profile on her." Noah started snapping pictures of the bedroom. "For now, she's Simone Peters, age 26 years old." Noah snapped another picture. "Cause of death: suicide by gunshot wound to the temple. Now I need to take pictures." Geoff and Sadie left the room while Noah combed over the sprawl. He collected trace evidence and a little bit of the blood pooling around Simone.

Duncan was heading off to work when he turned on the radio. At first, it was nothing important, and then news of Simone's death was broadcast. Duncan almost slammed the brakes on his car in the middle of the road, but his eyes bulged when he heard the news. He was in a "mood" for the rest of the day, and the kids he was counseling didn't bother asking him what was with his mood, not even insulting him. Most kids had learned the hard way not to delve into Duncan's personal life, even teachers and staff knew not to ask Duncan too many questions. So Duncan continued on with the rest of his day without any questions.

Chris, or Bill, was out on another day in Japan. He too had heard the news of Simone's death, and although she was a biochemist, he was looking for Dana Anders. Chris thought it was just a coincidence. Oh, how wrong he was.

Geoff and Sadie were outside, waiting for Noah to finish combing over the crime scene. Before that, Sadie had gone in and taken the body to the white van to be autopsied on.

"Do you think we should tell Duncan?" Sadie asked him.

"Uh…I'm not sure. He'd go nuts if he finds out Court's dead."

"Maybe he's already found out. I'm sure the radio has already broadcast the news."

"Right. But I don't know, if we tell him, don't you think—"

"What, he'd kill himself? Oh, never thought of that."

"They haven't even been a couple for, what, eight years? They probably haven't seen each other during that time, much less call each other or care about how the other is doing. Even now, I still don't get why she broke up with him." Noah walked out of the large house. "I finished collecting what I need. The other CSIs are covering for me."

"I'll see you in the morgue Sadie."

"All right Geoff. Will I see you too Noah?"

"Maybe."

"Bye guys!" Sadie got in her van, turned the key in the ignition, and peeled away from the driveway, out onto the street, and then back to the morgue.

"Let's go dude." Geoff and Noah left to their van and peeled away from the house too.

In the morgue, Sadie was keeping the body in one of the sections of the autopsy room. Earlier on, she had pumped Simone's stomach contents and sent them to Trace. If Simone were sensible enough, she'd at least have some drugs in her body before killing herself…right? Sadie had her suspicions, but wasn't sure about how to prove them or if they were even true. It was just a nagging feeling.

Meanwhile, in the crime lab, Noah was checking the gun, and of course, found her fingerprints. However, there was a discrepancy: Simone didn't own a gun. He even checked the number (which took less time; computer speed had improved vastly), and the gun wasn't even registered in the system. When he found this, he sighed. _What has this girl gotten herself into?_

Geoff was testing the suicide note to see if there was any trace left behind whatsoever. Firstly, he saw that it wasn't a "proper" suicide note. Who writes that they don't want to be found if they kill themselves in plain sight? Not only that, there were three words underlined in the suicide note: look, for, and me. Geoff put two and two together, and concluded that Simone wasn't really dead. However, he found out just as Noah calmly opened the door.

"Sadie wanted you to test the stomach contents of Simone. I'll take the DNA swabs to prove it's her."

"Dude, I don't think she's dead."

"What? Of course she's dead. We have her body."

"No, look at this suicide note." Noah went to Geoff's side and looked down at the note. "Notice how her signature has certain words underlined? Look at what those words are." Noah examined the note, and Geoff waited anxiously for Noah's reply. If Noah were shocked, he didn't show it.

"She's dead. She probably underlined those words on accident. We have her body. It's about as real as can be. There's no way she's still alive. However, there is something very strange about this case."

"What?"

"The gun used isn't hers."

"She probably borrowed it from someone then."

"No, it doesn't belong to anyone. The number is unique, but it's not registered in the system. So it's either directly off the manufacturing line, or someone doesn't want to be tracked."

"This just turned into murder, didn't it?"

"Not quite. Not until we know the full story behind Simone Peters. Test those stomach contents, and I'll be testing the DNA. You come to me if you need me. I'll be in the room next door." Noah left. _Sometimes, that dude acts like he's boss. _But Geoff still believed that Simone wasn't really dead. He looked at the tub of bile and stomach acid left for him. _Noah knows I get nauseous when I see vomit. But then again, he'd faint and go into seizures if he smelled it._ Which was entirely true; Noah's allergies and ailments were just as bad as they were in his teenage years. So Geoff heaved a sigh and held his breath while opening the tub. He took out a syringe and 30 test tubes to begin the tedious process of testing the contents of the liquid. Noah had taken out the Q-tips he had collected of Simone's blood and started cutting the cotton ends with the red stain on them. Those tips were then placed in their own individual test tube, and started testing them. Thanks to rapid advances in technology, DNA searching no longer took the month or so it normally would; instead, it only took a half hour. Near the end of the half hour, Geoff had just finished testing the stomach contents and left to show the results to Noah. _He's going to be in such shock when he sees THIS._

"What is it Geoff?"

"Dude, you've gotta see this!" Geoff shoved the printout into Noah's arms.

"Be a little bit more careful next time?" Noah rolled his eyes before looking down at the paper. "Hm, that's strange, no drugs in her body? There's just…stomach acid and bile? What, she didn't eat any food?"

"Oh yeah. According to this, Simone hasn't eaten any food—ever. This is the bile of a newborn clone." Noah's eyes widened at this.

"A clone? But—"

"They're illegal in California, right? Well, they're legal in the other 49 states, excluding Washington DC." After the Bush Administration, genetic engineering, such as cloning, was made legal in the USA. With this came new advancements, including the perfection of clones. And there was only one company in the world that was in charge of clones: Mann Corporation.

"There are no visible marks on her body that indicate she's a clone. Usually, there'd be at least something, like a blemish or a serial number to indicate that she's a clone. There was nothing on the body, at least, not in plain sight."

"Well, this is the indicator that she's a clone! That means you owe me an apology." Noah glared at Geoff.

"Fine. I'm sorry I doubted you. Okay, what matters is that we've been dissecting a CLONE all this time. This still doesn't explain why the gun isn't registered in the system and where in the world the real Simone is." Then the computer beeped. There was a match to the DNA. Simone's profile was pulled up, and Noah noticed a red string of numbers flashing next to her name. "Wait, what's that?" Noah pointed to the numbers. Geoff, however, knew exactly what it was.

"Oh…crap. This case just got ten times weirder—and harder to solve."

"Why?"

"That's not Simone we're looking at. Wait for an hour or two and we'll have the men in black knocking on our front door." Noah didn't understand any of what Geoff had just said.

"Translation?"

"By accessing this profile, we've just contacted the FBI." Noah's eyes widened for the second time that day, and stared at the screen with Simone's picture and the red string of numbers flashing next to her name.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry if there's any inaccurate information. I tried to portray it as how I saw it on the show, and although that's not how real life works, it's the best I can get. Anyway, the rundown! What does the FBI want with Geoff, Noah, and Sadie? How is Duncan taking Simone's "death"? Will Chris get suspicious of this "death"? Where's Simone? Will she ever wake up? And what the hell do clones have to do with this fanfic?! All that and more, coming up NEXT!!! Review please!


	4. Double Whammy

**A/N: **This is when things start becoming a little like Dollhouse, but not quite. However, I can guarantee you that there's a lot of drama coming up, and a lot of betrayal and sob stories. So thanks for the memories, even though they weren't so great (that line so describes something in this chapter), and thanks for the reviews (even though I have no story alerts or favorites), and I'm sorry Blond with a Brain, but I had to make up my own OCs because you were too late! Again, I'm sorry! There's more sci-fi and futuristic stuff coming up, so stay on the edge of your seat, it's chapter four coming at you! Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

"What do you mean she's dead? YOU WEREN'T KEEPING A WATCH OVER HER?! THAT'S IT! REPORT BACK TO HQ, NOW!!!!!" The FBI head of the Witness Protection Program George Saunders pressed end on his wireless Bluetooth headset. He had flown out here by Concorde (they had been reinstated after the War on Terrorism ended in 2010) specifically to confront a certain FBI agent. But he wasn't doing the talking—the head of the RCMP's Witness Protection Program, Kirk Blanche, was.

"Agent Jones, you were assigned to case Twilight Mall over 24 months ago. How would you describe your progress to date?"

"Slow."

"I'm actually VERY impressed by what I see here." The FBI head said with a hint of sarcasm. "You've…physically threatened a senator, disrupted a seven year human trafficking investigation, and have been arrested for trespassing on a Dubaian prince's yacht."

"DJ, let me ask you: do you think that Twilight Mall really exists?" Kirk asked DJ. Douglas "DJ" Jones had made vast changes to himself ever since his tenure on TD. He had hair, but he no longer wore his white cap. He was clean shaven, had hardened himself with Chef Hatchet's help back in Total Drama Action, and was now wearing an Armani suit. He was now an FBI agent, albeit a dead end one, and got a pretty large salary.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"Have you seen it then?" George asked DJ after rubbing his temples. "Could you take us on a tour?" DJ shook his head slowly. "Look, we all know this assignment is a joke."

"But if it's a joke, why am I on it? Or better yet: pull me off it. But you can't, because someone higher than you doesn't think it's a joke."

"I'm a billionaire, okay? I can hire anyone for anything. And I'M going to go to an ILLEGAL organization and have them program me what? The perfect date? Assassin? Chef? What? I'm paying a million dollars for that? I can get that! I have everything I want!"

"Nobody has everything they want sir. You may be content with what you have now, but you always want more. The next best thing. Something absolutely perfect."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Kirk commented.

"And the only way to imprint a human being with a new personality—" DJ was cut off by George.

"Which we've yet to prove possible." DJ continued on despite his boss butting in on his explanation.

"Is to remove their original personality completely. We're talking about people walking around who may as well be dead! And that sounds pretty bad, no?"

"Is that why you interrupted the Zubaczec case?"

"They're the top dogs of human trafficking. People are disappearing—"

"THAT IS AN ON-GOING INVESTIGATION!" George slammed his hand on the table. He then got up to confront DJ face-to-face. "We have a chance to take down the illegal business of smuggling girls into the country, and you DO NOT jeopardize that FOR A FAIRYTALE!!! YOU ARE GOING TO BACK OFF AND STOP PISSING OFF MAJOR PUBLIC FIGURES WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE!!!"

"You've been out of line DJ. You need to back off the Zubaczec case. So we're going to assign you to a new case." DJ's eyes widened, and Kirk noticed. "Don't worry; you're still on this case. Just try not to do anything illegal on this new case. Do we have any problems?"

"No sir. No problems at all."

"Your new case: one of our joint cases in the Witness Protection Program has just committed suicide. The LA CSIs have accessed this profile. We want you and one of our top RCMP agents to tell them to back off. You and our agent will handle the case from there. Just look over it to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary, and then you shelve it and get back to work on Twilight Mall."

"Who's the agent I'm working with?"

"You'll find out when you leave the building. The agent will be waiting for you, and the two of you will go to the CSIs and confront them. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." DJ left the meeting room and went down the elevator and left the building. As Kirk had said, the agent was waiting for him.

"DJ! Long time no see, eh?" A guy with dark brown hair slicked back, white skin, a little stubble, stone grey eyes, and wearing an average suit greeted the bewildered DJ. He also had a strong Canadian accent.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" DJ asked.

"Sure you do eh! I was on your team in TDI!" DJ could only remember one guy who had grey eyes like that and was on his team in TDI.

"Zeke, is that you?"

"Yeah eh! I joined the RCMP, and you joined the FBI! Seems we can't escape each other forever eh?" Ezekiel confirmed.

"Yeah…" DJ nervously chuckled. "Let's go." The two reality show has-beens left to DJ's black sedan, and DJ was driving. "So, how did you become one of the top agents of the RCMP?"

"It was mainly my unassuming looks and my extensive knowledge of English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, and Russian. I speak all eight languages fluently. They were really helpful on missions I was dispatched on."

"Hey, you're not saying eh after your sentences anymore."

"I only use that to disguise my voice now. But I used it for you so you could recognize me. Yeah, I forgot to mention that I also became well-respected because I was a master at changing my identity using my voice."

"So you're no longer the misogynistic home-schooled sexist of the past?"

"Nope. After TDI, I found out that what I did was wrong, and the talk show for TDA really helped me branch out more. I was still home schooled after the third season, and I soon found an outlet for all of the eight languages I mastered: the RCMP. So I trained with them and eventually got where I am today. I'm still single however. But how have you been doing?"

"After TD, I took care of my mom. Chef's lessons didn't serve me well—at first."

"Oh yeah, I saw that. You really toughed up."

"Yeah. But during my first year of university, my mom died of a heart attack. That heart attack was caused by shock from a burglar in our house. I resolved to continue on in university, and eventually got into law. I later found out that the burglar was on the FBI's Most Wanted list (the burglar escaped to Canada), and I was able to track him down by helping the FBI. They saw something in me, so they hired me and trained me to become an agent. And that's how I got where I am today."

"What about Katie and Sadie? What happened to them?"

"I used to love Katie. But she had eyes for Noah, and he was in LA at the time. Katie, Sadie, and I were in New York. One day, Katie was walking to my apartment, where Sadie and I were waiting for her. Katie never made it. She had been kidnapped on the way. I looked for her for a year, and Sadie and I grew close. However, it was hard for Sadie. You know how people eat when they're depressed? The exact opposite happened to Sadie. She got skinnier and skinnier, and I had to take care of her. We eventually became a couple, but my job prevented us from ever truly being together. Sadie broke it off after half a year of dating. She moved to LA, and I haven't heard or seen her since."

"We're in LA now, so maybe you'll find her here. You never know."

"Maybe, but I try not to keep my hopes up. Too many of my hopes and dreams have crashed." The two were silent for a while. "So who are we supposed to be meeting?"

"According to my paper," Ezekiel pulled out a folded sheet of paper from his suit pocket. "We're supposed to be meeting the lieutenant, the coroner, and a CSI. Names are as follows: Lieutenant Carte, Coroner Morson, and CSI Samar. Know any of them?"

"Nope. Guess we'll see who they are now." DJ and Ezekiel parked in an underground parking structure and left to the building. When they got to the ground floor, they met the secretary at the desk.

"'Scuse me, Miss?" Ezekiel asked the secretary. "We're looking for Lieutenant Carte, Coroner Morson, and CSI Samar. Do you know of their whereabouts?"

"And who shall I say is waiting?" the secretary asked.

"RCMP Agent Parker and FBI Agent Jones." Both men flashed their IDs.

"Wait in the conference room, first door on the left side of the left hallway." She pointed to a door with her pen, and then went back to writing. The two men thanked her and went into the conference room to wait.

"Hm, it's been two hours. I'm going to check with the secretary in the front." Geoff and Noah had gathered Sadie, and all three of them were in a meeting discussing what they would tell the FBI when they got here.

"Geoff." The secretary duly acknowledged.

"Have I gotten any messages?"

"One. You, the coroner, and CSI Samar are to report to Conference Room 2B. It's urgent." The secretary added that on to see what would happen if the lieutenant were under pressure.

"Thank you." Geoff walked at a brisk pace to Sadie and Noah. "The FBI's waiting in Conference Room 2B."

"Let's go then." Noah commented, and the three left to the room. Both groups were wondering who the other were, and when they met…well, let's say they were shocked.

"Seems everyone from TD got into crime." Ezekiel asked just as Noah, Geoff, and Sadie entered the room. DJ turned around.

"DJ? Zeke? I thought we were meeting the FBI, not our old friends from TD." Geoff scratched his head.

"No, you're still meeting the FBI. I'm FBI Agent Jones, he's RCMP Agent Parker." DJ tried to keep a strong business façade.

"DJ! Dude! Lighten up!" Geoff playfully punched DJ's shoulder.

"H-h-h-hello DJ." Sadie held out her hand.

"It's been a while Sadie." DJ coldly acknowledged, and the two shook hands.

"So you became an RCMP agent home-school?" Noah used Ezekiel's old nickname from TDI.

"It's Ezekiel, Agent Parker, or Zeke now and yeah, I did."

"But now to business. You've stumbled across one of our joint cases, hence Ezekiel coming instead of another FBI agent, or just myself."

"Why was this girl under WPP?" Geoff asked, immediately back to business.

"Let's just say she's an informant we can't have dead." DJ looked down. "We'll take the case from here." DJ and Ezekiel headed for the door, but Geoff stopped them.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You spill what you have, we spill what we have, and we both catch the kidnapper."

"Wait, kidnapper?" DJ asked.

"Yeah. We found a few discrepancies in our evidence. Noah, would you care to do the honors?"

"Gladly. The gun that Simone, or whoever she is now, used to commit suicide isn't even registered in the system. On her suicide note, her signature underlined three words: look, for, and me, an indicator that she could still be alive. Lastly, her stomach contents, pumped out by Sadie, were that of a newborn clone. The Simone we have is just a clone, illegal here in California."

"So someone went to great lengths to cover their tracks." Ezekiel commented. "We're dealing with a Grade-A kidnapper then, maybe even a group."

"How do you know?" Noah asked Ezekiel.

"I've seen this happen before, on my missions in Europe and Canada. The clones are replicas, but they don't go all the way like Mann Corporation does. The clones on the black market can't replicate eating habits or nuances of anyone; just their looks. They're called Dummies, so you've probably been dissecting one all this time. Sorry Sadie."

"It's okay; all I did was pump the Dummy's stomach contents." She sweetly replied.

"All right, we've told you what we know, so now tell us what you know." Geoff glared at DJ and Ezekiel.

"Dana Anders was originally from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and she was a child prodigy. She became the world's youngest biochemist at age 21 when she was recruited by Massorian Pharmaceuticals. Her boss Christopher Maclean had her and a few other workers in Singapore work on a dangerous biochemical weapon, and when Dana found out, she came to us right away. Christopher found out, and we arrested him. By that time, we had already arranged for the FBI to put her in their WPP. Christopher broke out of our jail in Singapore, and we haven't been able to catch him since."

"Wait, wait, wait. Dana Anders? Chris Maclean?!"

"What Geoff is trying to say here is that you probably haven't seen what "Dana" looks like and that there's no way our sadistic host of TD became a biochemist." Noah explained.

"Well, he did, and no, we haven't seen what Dana looks like. Why?" Ezekiel asked.

"Sadie, show them the picture." Sadie took out a picture of Simone, and DJ and Ezekiel quietly gasped.

"Is that…?" DJ asked.

"Yes, it's Courtney. Or a clone of Courtney."

"There's something going on here bigger than this "suicide" or our joint WPP case." Ezekiel commented once more. "But what?"

The next day, Duncan was still in his "mood". However, his boss had given him the day off, and Duncan was still replaying the actions in his mind.

* * *

"_Mind telling me what's wrong?"The principal of the school asked Duncan. Duncan remained silent. "Something's been bothering you all day. The other faculty and students are getting worried."_

"_Then let them worry!" Duncan still had his temper from his teenage years. "Look, I really don't want to talk about this."Duncan got up and left for the door._

"_Take one more step and you're fired. I just want to know what's wrong. Maybe we can help."The principal offered. Duncan didn't turn around, but a sigh escaped him. He turned around._

"_Fine. The biochemist from UCLA that committed suicide? I knew her. She was…an old friend of mine."Duncan lied through his teeth—sort of. Simone was no old friend, more of an old flame. "We were good friends years ago, and I hadn't heard from her until her death was being broadcast over the radio."That was also a lie. He had seen Simone just last week._

"_Oh, I'm sorry. But this is interfering too much in your work. I want you to take a vacation. I know that a sudden death, especially in a case like yours, can be troublesome, so just take a break for a while. Go on vacation. Clear your mind."_

"_But what about—"_

"_Your job? Don't worry; we'll have another top counselor come in. And I won't tell anyone why you're leaving, just that you are."In Duncan's mind, this was an offer too good to refuse. Who knows when he'll get another break like this?_

"_Fine. I'll take a vacation." Duncan left the office._

* * *

He really wanted a break, but something in him was preventing him from relaxing. He knew he could just sit on his ass and mope or watch TV for days on end, but something prevented him from doing so. Then he got a phone call.

"Hello?" Duncan lazily asked.

"Duncan! Dude!" Duncan immediately recognized the voice.

"Geoff? Last I heard, you became a lieutenant in the LAPD."

"Right-o dude! But I've got bad news."

"If this is about Courtney's—I mean, Simone's—suicide, I know."

"We already know too. But there's more: Bridge has been kidnapped."

"Aren't you engaged to her?" Duncan kept in contact with a few of his TD friends, but was most in touch with Geoff.

"Yeah, but she was kidnapped a few days ago. I want you to come to my place. Catch up on old times. You're not doing anything, right?"

"No. So where and what time?"

"Um…" Geoff groped for ideas. "How about 1310 Wilcox Avenue?" Duncan wasn't fooled.

"You want me to go to the LAPD? Look, if you wanted to interrogate me, you could've just asked." Duncan ended the call.

"Wait, DUDE!" But the line was dead. Geoff hung up. "Crap."

"I'm guessing it didn't work out?" DJ asked. DJ, Geoff, Sadie, Ezekiel, and Noah were all in the same room.

"Yeah. Duncan got pissed and hung up on me. But he knows, somehow, that Simone is really Courtney. He let it slip during our conversation."

"They probably met sometime before she was kidnapped. Now we really need him for interrogation." Ezekiel commented.

"He probably thinks that Courtney is dead. We have to tell him that she's been kidnapped." Sadie added her words of wisdom.

"But he no longer trusts me. How are we supposed to tell him the truth if he believes the lie, and firmly might I add?" Geoff asked the group.

* * *

"I can't believe him!" Duncan kicked the leg of his coffee table. _Geoff knows something I don't. But how am I going to find out what he knows about Courtney?_ Then he remembered something. _Didn't Owen and Izzy become PIs?_He went to his laptop and typed in Izzy Daniels. Google immediately popped back information about her in her teenage years, a ton of fan fiction based on her (_why does our reality show have a fan fiction base?_) and then a website. Daniels & Green Private Investigation Firm. _Right. Owen Green and Izzy Daniels._ After a little bit of searching on their website, he found their address, and in a flash, he was out the door of his apartment and driving to Izzy and Owen's firm. _Seems everyone got into crime. Everyone but me. I know what I'm doing for vacation._

Duncan walked into the firm, and what he saw was something right out of a noir film. A small, poorly lit space, a few tall metal drawers in the darkest corner, and there was a desk probably tucked far away that was overflowing with papers. At least, that's the image Duncan saw. Then from up the stairs nearby, he heard farting. The smell was strongly reminiscent of a certain reality show winner: Owen.

"Owen, I know you're here somewhere!" Duncan called out.

"Duncan?" A deep voice answered. Then there were thudding footfalls and in about three seconds, Owen had Duncan in a bear hug. Owen's voice changed back to the voice he used to have when he was a teen. "DUNCAN! It's been forever!" Owen, after TD, had lost a little bit of weight, but still had some chub on him. He had some scratchy stubble, but everything about him was still the same, minus his clothes. He was wearing a white long sleeve button down shirt (coffee stained, of course) and khaki pants.

"Duncan? Duncan's here?!" A female voice called out. Soon, a redhead was sliding down the stairwell's handrail and jumped to Owen's side. "DUNCAN! IT'S REALLY YOU!"

"Crushing…me…" Duncan managed to squeeze out.

"Oh, sorry dude! It's just been a long time!" Owen let go of Duncan, and after Duncan managed to catch his breath, he got up.

"So what services do you need?" Izzy asked. She walked over to the desk overflowing with papers and thumbed through a book. Her hair was as long as ever, and she still wore green, hence the green tank top and the dark blue skinny jeans. Then a question came to Duncan's mind, and he just had to ask.

"Do you still go by Kaleidoscope?"

"No, I changed it back to Izzy. My parents still call me Isabella, but Owen calls me E-scope from time to time. I'm still as crazy as ever!" Izzy grinned. _Yep, as crazy as ever. Same with Owen. These two haven't changed at all._

"So did you come to catch up on old times buddy?" Owen asked.

"No…I have a request." Owen and Izzy looked at Duncan, in their minds praying it was something action packed. Being PIs hadn't been as great as they thought, but it was a way of getting food on the table. "I need to find out what Geoff knows about Simone Peters'—what am I saying—Courtney's suicide." Owen and Izzy looked at each other, and then looked back to Duncan, nervousness in their eyes.

"Um…Duncan? I don't know quite how to say this, but—" Owen was cut off by Izzy.

"Courtney's been dead for years. She died in a car crash with a drunk driver while she was attending Harvard." News never traveled fast between the reality show has-beens, so this came as a shock to Duncan.

"No way. I saved her from being run over by a bus last week and took her to my place. I even know where she lives and everything."

"But that's Simone Peters, UCLA biochemist." Owen commented.

"And she's not Simone either. She's in the Witness Protection Program, and her "real name" is Dana Anders. For some reason, she doesn't remember being Courtney, but I swear, if you cut her hair and put on the right clothes, she's Courtney." _Crap._ "You don't breathe a word of what I've just said to anyone."

"Oh, we won't. Look, Duncan, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I just might believe you. With all of the advancements in technology, anything's possible. She could've had her original memory wiped or something for all we know. But Owen's still good friends with Geoff, so we'll try and see what we can do. We're masters at our trade!" Izzy grinned once again.

"So how much do I need to pay you guys?" Duncan asked.

"Oh no! Free of charge bud! Think of it as a thank you for being a good friend to me during TD." Owen smiled. Duncan left the small office. Izzy walked over to the desk and turned off the tape recorder hidden in the pages of one of her books.

"We got everything."

"I hate doing this. I'm surprised I was able to lie to him without breaking down."

"Well, it just goes to show that your lying skills have improved." Izzy gave Owen a light kiss on the cheek. "We need to tell Geoff what Duncan knows. Then we go back to Duncan and tell him to talk to Geoff."

* * *

"_Hey, Izzy?" Geoff asked over the phone._

"_Hey Geoff! I haven't heard from you in a while! So how's life?"_

"_It's been good. So I have a request."_

"_Sure, what is it?"_

"_Duncan got angry at me and hung up when I didn't tell him I wanted to interrogate him. I suspect that he knows something about Simone Peters' suicide that we don't, so if he comes to you and Owen for business, I want you to record the conversation. I know that it's illegal, but I don't know how I'm going to get Duncan otherwise."_

"_I'll be sure to do so."_

"_And tell Owen I said hi. By the way, once you finish recording the conversation, bring the tape to me at the crime lab, and we'll talk about how we're going to get Duncan for interrogation."_

"_You can count on me! And I'll be sure to pass on your message to Owen!"_

"_Thanks so much Izzy. Bye!" Geoff hung up._

"_Crap. Betraying Duncan? What the hell are we getting ourselves into?" Izzy whispered to herself._

* * *

"How are we supposed to do that if Duncan no longer trusts Geoff?"

"We'll figure something out." Izzy grabbed her long black coat. "Come on, we've got to go to the crime lab." Owen gave a sigh before getting his trench coat and they both left to the crime lab to see Geoff.

* * *

**A/N: **Betcha didn't see that coming! Izzy and Owen betraying Duncan?! Wow, even I'm shocked that I came up with the idea! And there's betrayal going on left and right! So basically, a few little facts for those of you somewhat confused.

Couples so far: DuncanxCourtney, IzzyxOwen, DJxSadie, NoahxKatie, BridgettexGeoff, more to come

Zubaczec is pronounced ZOO-BA-CHECK

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "My Life Would Suck Without You"-Kelly Clarkson and "About You Now"-Sugababes (or the cover by Miranda Cosgrove, your choice)

And I dropped a reference in here. If you get this reference, you will unlock how I'm sewing Dollhouse's ideas into this fanfic. Hint: the reference lies in a name. But not a person's name. So get guessing!

Ah, I bet you're loving this now! So the main question is, where's the truth behind the lies? Will Duncan forgive Geoff? When is Simone going to appear (that's next chapter, never mind)? How did all of these reality show has-beens get involved in crime? When is Chris going to catch on that Simone is really Dana? Most of that and more, coming up NEXT!!!! Review please!


	5. Twilight Mall

**A/N: **Hey peeps! New update comin' at ya! Now, there's more Dollhouse being incorporated, and we'll still be in touch with everyone else. Now, do not fret, I will still be updating "Going for the Dough", just not at this very moment due to a few...difficulties. Yes, so I haven't neglected GftD at all. More TDI characters are gong to be introduced, and remember when I said I wasn't going to have any of my OCs from GftD come back in this fanfic? Yeah...I lied. I decided as a last minute thing to have Chase play a role in this fanfic. Tawny and Blaire might too, as with Julie, but they'll probably be lightly mentioned. But I can guarantee that there's more drama coming up! Yes, so review, disclaimer is in the first chapter, we're good to go!

* * *

"Unh…where am I?" Simone asked when she came to. All she saw was that it was dark, and there were control boards inside what she assumed was a van.

"Welcome back. Don't worry, we'll take care of you." A voice replied. It was kind of nasally, as though it belonged to a nerd.

"Shut up Harold. I'm her Clerk." Another voice argued. He sounded normal.

"Yeah Chase, and it's my fault that you lost track of her."

"That was a poor error of judgment."

"Yeah, that's going to sit really well with Heather." _Ice-cold bitch. Crap, I forgot about her._ Chase thought to himself.

"What counts is that we found her."

"About time too. You know, as your superior, I should fire you, but I won't—unless Heather wants it." Harold grinned while he was driving the van. They were driving through the outskirts of Las Vegas, and they were almost at their destination. A large office building rose in the distance, and both men knew they were going to face their destinies in there.

Las Vegas changed over eight years. After the Eco-Recession of 2007 (in the making for much longer), and the USA finally rebooting itself in 2010 and beyond, Vegas was no longer Sin City. The casinos had suffered so much during the recession that they couldn't rebound completely. The casinos were still lively, and so was the real estate, but it didn't attract quite the crowd it used to. People gambled over the internet, not in an actual casino. Anything that a casino had (besides the hotel aspect) could be replicated over the internet on a laptop or a computer in the comfort of one's own home. So businesses started developing in Vegas, and enough time passed that Vegas had its own business district with looming and sparkling skyscrapers.

They stopped in a shaded driveway right in front of the entrance to a building. Another van was driving off just as they arrived.

"Ready for your Treatment?" Chase asked Simone.

"Um, sure." Simone took Chase's hand and he led her to the elevator. There was a woman waiting for her with a stack of fresh clothes.

"I'll see you soon."

"Bye, um…?"

"Chase."

"Right." Simone smiled before the elevator closed. The woman in the elevator guided her to a room where Simone then changed into a pink spaghetti strap V-neck top and blue gaucho knit pants. A guy with brown hair, a beige crew neck shirt and red open button down shirt, black jeans and white shoes was manning a control board. A chair in the lounge position was all ready and was booting up.

"Hello. Just take a seat."

"All right." Simone sat down on the chair and put her hands on the designated spot. She relaxed.

"Now, this will only pinch for a second." Simone suddenly went into a seizure for a good 3 minutes as the machine started extracting everything from her: her personality, her past, and her memories. It ended, and the chair was brought back up into a 120 degree recline. "Hello Courtney. How are you feeling?"

"Hm? I must've fallen asleep…did I?" Courtney asked.

"Only for a short while." Courtney looked around the room.

"Shall I go now?"

"By all means." The guy showed her the exit, and Courtney got up and walked out. He waited for a few more seconds before powering down the machine and pressing a few buttons on the dashboard of the chair. A disk popped out, very, very hot to the guy's touch, and he quickly brought it into the next room. It was yet another technology filled room. But Chase was waiting in there.

"Everything go all right with the wipe Cody?"

"Yeah, totally." He put the disk into a device to wipe out all of the information on it. "And…the imprint is gone. You could always ask Court if the wipe went fine, but she won't remember. Why, did something happen to her that I should know about?"

"She finally made a living for herself."

"Ah, but that's the living we gave her. Even though she was placed under the FBI and RCMP's watch, we gave her the smarts to become famous. She must've helped in a dozen powerful medicines and cures that could save someone's life. We're humanitarians. Then again, she would've stayed in Singapore as the client asked if Christopher hadn't gone after her. The FBI and RCMP just HAD to step in. But she's back here, and that's what counts in the end." Chase looked out over a spa-like sprawl. There were buffed wooden floors all around, a white carpeted section, and tall square lamps. It was modern, chic, something out of a high-class spa.

"We'd spend our lives in jail if anyone found this place." Indeed they would. The people in the complex were all beautiful, all in their 20s, and all mind-wiped. Some were meditating by a small pond, others exercising in a fitness section, some reading, some getting a massage, and others just walking about. Courtney was making her way down some stairs.

"We're just misunderstood, that's all. Yeah, great humanitarians like us often are. I mean, look at Courtney. She hasn't a care in the world. She's living the dream." Cody gave a wry smile.

"Who's dream?" Chase asked. Cody chuckled softly.

"Who's next?" Cody stared at all of the people, idyllic written all over their faces. "Hey, I gotta go. We just got a new inductee, and I need to wipe this person's slate clean. She'll be a brand new Mankin soon enough, like all of the other Mankins here."

"All right. I'll just…wait here."

"You do that." Cody left the room immediately and walked the top floor to the other room. Courtney, meanwhile, was reporting to her physical with Dr. Beth Levin. Beth's hair was now hovering just above her shoulders, was wavy, and had a side part. Beth had Lasik Eye Surgery (paid by Heather; the surgery had improved so much that her vision no longer reverted back or wasn't perfect) and wore a white lab coat, a maroon colored V-neck shirt, a black A-line skirt, and black high heels. She was also considerably taller and skinnier.

"Courtney! Welcome back! Just take a seat right here." Beth beamed. Courtney hesitantly sat down on the grey leather seat. Standard measures were taken, such as measuring heartbeat, looking at her blood work, testing to see if all of Courtney's nerves were working, and most things doctors would test for a normal person. But Courtney wasn't normal.

"My head hurts." Courtney remarked as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Really? Let me check." Beth started pressing with two fingers to see where the pain was coming from. Standard procedure, really. Courtney suddenly yelped. "It's there?" Beth felt a lump. That was from when Courtney was struck with the butt of the gun when she was kidnapped, but Beth didn't know that. "You probably hit your head hard on something."

"I don't remember."

"Well, it'll be all right. Otherwise, your blood work is fine, same with your internals." Beth filed away her results on Courtney. "Would you care for a massage?"

"They're relaxing." Courtney smiled.

"I'll call the staff to set up a table for you, okay?" Beth was about to walk to the phone when Courtney suddenly stopped her.

"Um…I don't remember what fell on me." Beth saw this as out of the ordinary. Normally, other Mankins would just get up and walk to the massage area. But not this time. Beth still looked at her sweetly and offered a small smile.

"Does that bother you?" Her voice disguised her shock perfectly.

"Should it?"

"Don't worry; we'll look after you."

"Does someone look after you?" Courtney reached out to touch Beth's face, but Beth recoiled back, disgust on her face. She never liked people touching her face—or the fact that Heather, who was supposedly watching over her, could betray her at any second.

"Why don't you just wait in the massage area?" Beth left, a little more quickly than normal, to the phone to call up the staff for a masseuse. She looked at Courtney as she walked out, an eyebrow raised in suspicion. _I wonder…what happened to Courtney?_

"Do we have her down?" Cody asked as he briskly walked into the room.

"Yes. Everything's ready for you to operate." One of the assistants replied.

"What are you doing? Why am I here? GET ME OUT!!!" When she saw Cody's face, her face paled. "Cody? What are you doing here?"

"Bridgette! Long time no see!" Bridgette was wearing a white tube top that covered her breasts skimpily and another wrap that covered her groin area skimpily too. She was struggling to get out of her restraints. However, it was hard for her to move, considering there were pins stuck in her knees and most of her joints, along with two pins stuck in her forehead.

"Cody, what the hell are you doing to me? Why am I here?"

"Might as well tell you." _Considering you won't remember any of what I'm going to say anyway._"You're going to become a Mankin. We'll wipe your memory and your personality clean, and we'll be free to imprint upon you any memory, personality, or trait our company, Mann Corporation, so desires. We'll hire you out to whoever wants to pay, and you serve that client's needs until you are done. Then you'll be brought back here for Treatment, and the cycle will continue."

"That's illegal!"

"That's the same thing they said about genetic engineering, and look at where it got us."

"YOU BASTARD! YOU BETTER GET ME OUT OF HERE! Geoff will be sure to arrest your sorry ass for this!"

"We're nowhere near LA. We're in Vegas. So don't count on Geoff—or for that matter, anyone—to save you." Bridgette's eyes widened at this news, and then glared at Cody.

"I'm engaged to Geoff. He won't stop looking for me." Cody wryly chuckled.

"We'll see about that." And with that, Cody started the operation of wiping her memories and personality clean. Bright light flooded the room at steady intervals, and Bridgette went into shock and started whimpering and crying as the procedure went on.

Meanwhile, Courtney had left Beth and was about to walk to the massage area when she saw bright light flashing on the couches. She looked around to see where it was coming from, and it happened again. _Upstairs_. Courtney was intrigued, and her curiosity pulled her up the wide wooden stairs and in front of a door that was unlocked. She opened it and went inside. There was yet another room, and that was the source of the bright light. There was whimpering coming from the room, and Courtney walked closer and closer to the door, and she slowly opened it. The assistants and Cody didn't notice her walk in, but Bridgette did, and she turned her head and saw Courtney. Bridgette mouthed something to Courtney that she immediately understood. _Courtney, help me._ However, something in Bridgette's face triggered something in the back of Courtney's mind that immediately invoked a sense of panic and curiosity, along with a memory.

* * *

"_Hey, I'm Bridgette, if you didn't already know. I have to have a bottom bunk." Bridgette set her stuff down by a bunk. Both girls were not amused by the fact that they had to stay in a smelly, musty old summer camp._

"_Oh, sure. I'll take the top bunk, if you don't mind." Courtney set her stuff down at the foot of the two bunks. "I'm Courtney, by the way."_

"_Oh, I already know. You helped Izzy out of the water."_

"_DID SOMEONE SAY MY NAME?!" Izzy barreled into the cabin. "Oh, it's just you two. Well, I'm gonna go explore the island! I'm sure there are a lot of cool things to do here!" Izzy ran away._

"_She's a little nuts, isn't she?" Bridgette laughed._

"_Well, kind of. But I think she'll be helpful to our team." Courtney remarked._

"_YOU'VE GOT A HALF HOUR TO UNPACK AND MEET ME BACK AT THE MAIN LODGE, STARTING…NOW!" Chris yelled._

"_Don't you hate our host?" Bridgette asked._

"_He knew we were going to be here, so I'm not pleased with him. Actually, I'm not pleased with all of my teammates, especially Duncan."_

"_What, that guy with the piercings? He creeps me out a little bit, but I think Geoff is really cute." Bridgette sighed._

"_Well, I'm not looking for love here. I'm looking to win."_

"_Maybe you'll find love with Duncan!" Courtney glared at Bridgette after she said that. "Kidding, kidding!" Courtney's glare softened._

"_That would be funny though. Me…getting together with Duncan!" Both girls shared a laugh before they went back to unpacking their things._

* * *

_Bridgette…?_ This compelled Courtney to ask a question out loud.

"Why isn't she sleeping?"

"What?" One of the assistants asked. Cody quickly turned around, eyes wide in shock.

"Just keep mapping the tissue." Cody quickly walked to Courtney and gently pushed her out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him. "Courtney! What are you doing here?"

"She—she hurts." Courtney pointed behind Cody to the room.

"She does…that's because it's her first time." Cody blocked Courtney's gaze as she tried to get a better look at the room. _How does she know that Bridgette hurts? Was it the whimpering? How would Courtney be able to distinguish that anyway?_ "And…uh…we have to do, uh…more extensive work on her."

"Work?" Courtney asked, tilting her head to the side like a little child would.

"We're making her better. In a little while, she'll be strong and happy, and she'll forget all about this and," Cody noticed Beth peeking from the open door. "You will have a new friend living with you. Her name's Bridgette."

"Bridgette…how pretty."

"Right…shouldn't you be getting your physical with Dr. Levin?"

"Courtney, we're ready for your massage." Beth reminded her.

"Ah, here she is." Courtney turned around and saw Beth. She offered a small smile before walking to Beth. "Something hurt my head." She told Cody.

"I bet it's nothing to worry about." Cody smiled broadly. When Courtney turned around, Cody quickly and silently asked Beth what happened. Beth offered no reply, but briefly smiled at Courtney as she passed her. Then, Beth left with Courtney. All that time, Bridgette had been watching and praying that Courtney recognized her. Then, Bridgette's memories were gone completely. In a half hour, while Courtney was getting her massage, the procedure was complete. Bridgette was then dressed in workout clothes, and then taken to Beth for her first physical, then to some weight lifting. Bridgette couldn't lift too much, but it was enough. The company didn't want their girls all that strong anyways. Bridgette was put through rigorous exercise and taken to a treadmill to test her endurance. The company had to have her fit in order for the Mankin to execute their task flawlessly if the need ever came. The staff was monitoring her endurance and Cody was being brought up to date on Bridgette's status. Everything was going fine as far as Cody could see, and he confirmed that she was just fine on a touch panel. The panel was then taken to Beth, who also confirmed it, but Cody was watching from afar.

_Beth…_After his failed attempts at winning Gwen's heart, he attempted to win Beth's, but it was hard when she was on TDA. After the three seasons of TD, they lost touch, but he kept a strong desire for Beth, and she was drop-dead gorgeous now, at least, in Cody's eyes.

Courtney was wandering the complex after her massage, on the bottom floor of course, but as she wandered around, she started having more and more flashbacks of her past. But they happened each time she saw a new person who looked vaguely familiar. While she was walking about the fitness area, she saw a somewhat muscular woman working out. She was very pretty though.

* * *

"_Oh, you'll get breakfast Owen, right after you complete your 20 kilometer run around the lake!" Chris grinned._

"_Oh, so you're funny now! You know what I think would be funny—?" Eva started advancing toward Chris, but Duncan and Geoff restrained her._

"_Eva! Try to control your temper!" Courtney furiously whispered._

"_You're enjoying this, aren't you?!" Eva yelled at Chris._

"_A little. You have 30 seconds!" Chris grinned once more._

* * *

Courtney saw that Eva looked a lot like the woman who was exercising, so she decided to try and ask the woman to confirm her suspicions.

"Eva?" The woman kept weight lifting.

"Hi Courtney."

"So…you're Eva?"

"Yes. Now leave me alone." This remark brought another memory to Courtney's mind.

* * *

"_Harold." Chris called out after a long dramatic pause. Eva, who was enraged, stood up._

"_Nice. Real nice. Who needs this crappy TV show anyway?!" Eva stormed away from the campfire._

"_Buh-bye Eva!" Courtney waved good-bye to the retreating Eva. Eva didn't take too kindly to that, and growled before proceeding to throw a long stick with a sharp point at Courtney. Courtney ducked just in time, otherwise the stick would've nailed her in the forehead. "Touchy!" Courtney exclaimed._

* * *

Courtney suddenly feared Eva, and she backed away from her. She kept wandering the place, and soon found a blonde girl with HUGE breasts meditating by a pond. When she saw her, another memory came to mind.

* * *

"_You were with that blonde Gopher girl, weren't you?!" Courtney yelled at Tyler. He had just come back from taking a break outside of the dodge ball arena._

"_NO! Maybe…So?!"_

"_SO, she could have been getting you to spill all of our weaknesses to her!" Courtney's stern face immediately fell off her face as she saw Lindsay talking to her hands, as though she were having a conversation with them. Courtney mentally face palmed herself._

* * *

She looked at Lindsay, wondering who she was and who the guy was from her memory. So she got down on one knee and lightly tapped Lindsay's leg. Lindsay's eyes immediately opened.

"Claire? Hi Claire." Lindsay said in an almost monotone voice.

"It's Courtney." Courtney corrected.

"Right. I must meditate." Lindsay closed her eyes again.

"Do you know someone named Tyler?" The name sounded strange to Courtney as she said it.

"No." Lindsay simply replied. _How does she not know Tyler? Tyler clearly knew her._ However, she still did not know Lindsay's name. Courtney got up and kept wandering the area.

* * *

Chris was in Japan, and he was packing his suitcase. He replayed the moment he was told that he was to leave for the USA, specifically Los Angeles, in his mind.

* * *

"_Christopher Maclean, have you finished searching in Japan?" The Chinese man, Chow Soo-Hyun, asked over the phone._

"_Almost. I just have one last lead to follow up on, and I'll be done."_

"_Good. Follow this last lead quickly, because we've been tipped off that Dana might be in the USA."_

"_What? Then I'll go now."_

"_Not until you follow on this last lead. My sources…aren't always reliable."_

"_You can count on me sir."_

"_Remember, if you let me down, your life will be PUT down." The line went dead, and Christopher hung up and heaved a great sigh._

* * *

His flight left in a day, and so he was packing and making sure he left no trace of himself behind. That way, the RCMP couldn't find him. _LA, here I come._

* * *

Izzy and Owen reported straight to the secretary in the crime lab.

"Owen Green and Izzy Daniels here. We're here to see Lieutenant Geoff Carte." Owen sternly commanded as they both flashed their IDs.

"Lieutenant Carte wanted us here as soon as possible." Izzy added.

"Hang on one moment." The secretary quickly called Geoff, and he told her to have them wait in Conference Room 2B. "So you are…wait in Conference Room 2B." The secretary gestured to the same room where Geoff, Sadie, and Noah met Ezekiel and DJ just yesterday. The couple left to the room. Meanwhile, Geoff gathered Sadie, Noah, Ezekiel, and DJ, and they all left to the room. Geoff entered first.

"Owen! Izzy!"

"Geoff!" Owen immediately had Geoff in a bear hug. At this time, Sadie, Noah, Ezekiel, and DJ entered the room.

"Geoff, I thought we were going to be alone." Izzy looked at them. "Who are they?"

"You don't recognize them?! Look, its Noah, Sadie, Zeke, and DJ!" Owen put Geoff down and looked at all of them with wide eyes. "But what are you guys doing here?"

"Well, I became a coroner, Noah became a CSI, DJ became an FBI agent, and Ezekiel became an RCMP agent." Sadie quickly explained.

"Oh wow! Looks like we all got into crime one way or the other!" Owen laughed.

"Right-o dude!" Izzy, for some reason, wasn't laughing.

"Look, Geoff, I felt really guilty about doing this. I mean, extracting information out of Duncan, one of your best friends from TD?" Izzy asked. Geoff stopped smiling.

"Izzy, come on. This is the only way I can know what Duncan is hiding from us."

"Oh, don't worry. He's hiding more than you can imagine. But this is a moral issue! Duncan really trusts us to find Courtney! But didn't you know that she's been dead for years?"

"What?" Noah asked.

"She's been dead…for years?" DJ asked aloud.

"Yeah. I guess news doesn't travel fast among us. Courtney died in a car crash with a drunk driver while she was attending Harvard back in 2012." Owen finally summoned enough courage to say that she had been dead.

"That's not possible. Look at this picture." Noah gave Owen and Izzy Simone's picture.

"Oh my gosh, that's Courtney." Izzy remarked.

"Exactly. So we're dealing with a ghost here." Ezekiel commented. All of the other has-beens gave a weird look towards Ezekiel. "I saw this happen only once, and that was in Mexico. What seems to have happened here is that Courtney got into an accident—a planned accident, might I add—and was kidnapped from the wreckage. Her body was probably never recovered. Cloning was still in its infancy in 2012. Either way, she disappeared off the map in the perfect crime, and then resurfaced as a different person with a whole new identity."

"So something happened in the time after the car crash and before Courtney became famous as Dana." Geoff commented.

"Exactly. Now we need to find out what that was." Owen and Izzy exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing: _What the hell are we getting ourselves into? Is Duncan coming along for the ride?_

* * *

Nighttime. Courtney was going for a shower just as Bridgette finished. Bridgette offered a smile, and Courtney smiled right back, but still remembering Bridgette's words in the operating room. _Courtney, help me._ They echoed through her mind as she took her shower. After she was done, she got dressed into a royal purple silk nightgown that went to her mid thigh, and she along with Bridgette, Eva, Lindsay, and a drop-dead gorgeous guy were ushered into sunken beds. Courtney got in hers and tried to go to sleep, but her sleep would be plagued with some old memories.

At the same time, Duncan was dreaming about his time in TD, and of his latest meeting with Courtney. They were funny, wonderful, sad, upsetting, but they kept plaguing Duncan. Geoff went to bed alone, missing the warmth that Bridgette gave off when she was still with him. Little did he know that Bridgette wasn't all that far away, but she didn't remember him. Sadie and DJ were both plagued by each other's sudden meeting, and they both didn't sleep a wink. Noah was thinking about his time with Katie, before she was kidnapped eight years ago. He shuddered in his bed just thinking about never seeing her again. Izzy and Owen were both happy sleeping in each other's arms, but they were still thinking about the mess they got themselves into. They knew that their life wouldn't be dull for a long, long time.

* * *

**A/N: **So how'd you like this latest chappie? I bet you loved it! Or hated it, I really wouldn't know. But here's a few more tidbits if you got confused.

Mankin is a play on the word mannequin. Hope this helps you with the reference from the last chapter!

Couples so far: DuncanxCourtney, DJxSadie, NoahxKatie, BridgettexGeoff, BethxCody, IzzyxOwen, more to come

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "Broken"-Lifehouse and "About You Now"-Sugababes (not the cover this time around)

Now for the rundown: Is Chris going to realize that Courtney is really in Las Vegas and not Los Angeles? Are Izzy and Owen going to pull out of the mess they got themselves into, or is it too late? Will some of these couples reunite? How much more is Courtney going to remember from her past? How did Chow Soo-Hyun get the tip off that Courtney might be in LA? Will Duncan lose trust in Geoff completely, maybe even Izzy and Owen? How did all of these ex-stars get involved in crime?! How did Chris even become a biochemist?! How did Beth and Cody end up working for Heather?! And is Lindsay GOING TO ACT SMART AND NOT DUMB FOR ONCE?! Most of that--and more!--coming up NEXT!!! Review please!


	6. Memory Stings

**A/N: **FINALLY! The glitch is gone! Thank God, I was starting to think it'd last forever! But back to the fanfic. I love the chappie. Actually, the next two I love. There's a lot more revealed about the past and stuff, and these first flashbacks are the dreams that Courtney has while she's sleeping. The pretty line breaks indicate a separate flashback in the dream, but I think the time difference is pretty apparent. I took the best DxC moments that were appropriate for this moment, so don't get upset that I don't have EVERYTHING in here so far. A horizontal ruler represents a separate location or a certain amount of time passing.

About the actual TV series: seriously think about watching it. Not just to understand the fanfic, but just for fun. It's really interesting, and if you've started watching it, a character to look out for: Mellie. She's just so...awesome. I'm a sucker for the haplessly lovestruck, what can I say? Just go to the FOX website and you can watch the full episodes online. So are we cool? Okay, review, disclaimer is in the first chapter, let's get the show on the road!

* * *

"_Oh my gosh! Ew!!! You were cuddling me!" Courtney practically screamed to Duncan and shot up off the ground (actually, off his chest), which then woke up the rest of the Killer Bass team, sans Katie and Sadie. Her screaming was all just to cover up the ENORMOUS blush that was creeping up her cheeks. She managed to just barely keep it down._

"_I was calmly lying on my back trying to catch a few Zs. YOU were cuddling up to ME." Duncan grinned. He had won this battle._

"_OGRE!" She screamed before getting to work packing everything. Duncan couldn't keep the grin off his face for the rest of the day._

_******************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****************_

_Courtney's stomach was growling. She hadn't eaten any food because the food being served was garbage—literally. Along with that, she was dog-tired. And to make matters worse, Duncan was picking on Harold—again._

"_That's not juice!" Harold spat out the liquid from the cup Duncan gave him._

"_Oh, oh, my mistake dude! We must've confused it with the kitchen grease!" Duncan and Geoff were about to collapse from laughter. Courtney took this opportunity to scold both guys, specifically Duncan—and also to be close to him. Although SHE would never admit it, at least, not at the time, she had a huge crush on him, and she didn't even really know it._

"_You guys are so immature! I hope you're proud of yourselves!" Courtney scolded the two. Duncan stopped laughing and plastered a smug smirk on his face._

"_Okay, look: I know you like me. He knows you like me, EVERYONE knows it! So here's a tip: if you want to kiss me, I might let you." Duncan grinned. The battle wasn't over though._

"_AND TO THINK I ACTUALLY THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!" Courtney yelled at him. Duncan needed to cover this up—and fast._

"_Psh, me, nice? Yeah right!"_

"_Why'd you think that?" Geoff asked Courtney while munching on some burnt toast. And Duncan had tried to silence her, so she took pity on him…for the time being._

"_Never mind! He's just as gross and annoying as he wants you to believe! ENJOY YOUR GARBAGE!" Courtney glared at the two guys before walking away._

_******************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****************_

"_I'm going to check on him." Courtney stood up from her seat, paste in hand._

"_You like him." Geoff teased while he stopped toying with his mush._

"_I DO NOT LIKE HIM!" Courtney vehemently denied._

"_Yes you do." Geoff insisted._

"_Not only do I not like him, I can't stand him. He's rude, he's rebellious, and he's totally annoying…I'm going to check on him." Courtney left the mess hall, got a flashlight from her cabin, and skulked to the boathouse where Duncan was being kept._

__

_******************~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****************_

_Courtney had gone on a food raid with Duncan, just to experience the rush of being bad for once. Of course, if she still had a shred of awareness left, she'd realize that she shouldn't do that because of the cameras. But…her mind got lost in Duncan. After eating 10 peanut butter sandwiches, she ended up throwing up outside of the cabin. Duncan took notice and walked outside, a part of him wanting to see if she was okay, a larger part wanting to rub her embarrassment in her face (if she had any, which she did)._

"_So the princess has a dark side." Courtney heard HIM and turned around, just barely managing to keep herself from collapsing onto the steps of the cabin. Duncan would've helped her up, but the opportunity to tease her was just too good to resist._

"_Okay, that was so gross. But it was like, once I did something bad, it was so much fun I just wanted MORE!" Courtney almost flailed her hands in the air and almost laughed maniacally, but she had a little bit of awareness back, and she held her other wants and desires down._

"_Well, you could always give me that kiss, that'd be pretty bad." He just had to offer it, just to see if she'd take the hint and FUCKING KISS HIM ALREADY! How long had they been there, almost a month?! It's about time! At least, that's what Duncan was thinking. Courtney didn't give her decision a second thought._

"_You're still not my type." And just to emphasize it, she ruffled his green Mohawk. Duncan was NOT letting this opportunity slide!_

"_Fine. Enjoy a peanut butter-less life." He crossed his arms and looked away. He then felt a nudge, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Courtney mirror his actions._

"_Thanks; enjoy prison." And as a quick-fire action, he nudged her._

"_I will." He grinned. Then about a second of silence before he felt two hands on his face and VERY warm lips pressed against his. His eyes were wide, and then they slowly closed. But just as he was getting into it, she pulled away and left him smiling like an idiot (well, they both were). _

* * *

Courtney woke up the next morning alone. She just lay on her sunken bed, looking up to the ceiling. The others who were in the room had left and were busying themselves with some quiet activity. _That blonde girl is probably meditating again, and Eva is probably weight-lifting. But what is that GORGEOUS guy doing?_Then she remembered her dream. She knew they were abnormal, and didn't know what to make of them. In fact, yesterday had been very weird. From Courtney's newfound awareness, she knew that the people she saw all had some connection to each other—and to herself. Somehow, she also knew that her flashbacks took place in the summer at a summer camp, and that she had definitely been a HUGE bitch back then. _How far was back then anyway?_ However, a woman interrupted her thoughts.

"Would you like your clothes now Courtney?" The woman held a bundle of new clothes, a dark pink V-neck camisole and dark blue cargo pants instead of gaucho knit pants. Courtney's words were lodged in her throat, so she merely nodded and stood up. "All right. Would you care for a massage afterward?"

"No thank you." Courtney looked down at her clothes, and the woman left. Courtney had a lot to think about today. She set off to change in a changing room and take a shower.

* * *

"At least we brought her back Heather!" Chase yelled. He was in Heather's office with Harold.

"I don't care if you brought her back; I should have you fired for losing track of her in the first place!" Heather Greer, head of the Vegas branch of Mann Corporation (and single), yelled back at Chase. "But I won't, because you're special."

"Oh really?" Chase smirked.

"Yes." Heather remained calm. "You're the only one of us who can truly blend into the crowd and see what everyone thinks of us, especially the FBI. We can't have them discovering the complex. And I'm not about to lose my job because of an incompetent Clerk!" She slammed her hand on the table she was sitting at. She then got up and dusted herself off. Heather's hair was as long as ever, even in the same hairstyle, but she was wearing a burgundy colored wrap dress.

"And you're not about to let The Sir down, are you?" The Sir was the codename/nickname for the CEO of Mann Corporation. The Sir ran the company, and had the ultimate ability of firing the head of any branch of the corporation.

"He's an old acquaintance. And I've paid my debt to him." Heather walked up to Chase. "We're keeping you as Courtney's Clerk, so don't lose track of her again, okay? Or it's your job on the line, and since you know about us, The Sir, as you so aptly call him, will want you dead."

"I understand." Chase nodded.

"Harold, keep an eye on him before our next client comes. We'll have Courtney out on the field for the next client, no matter the request, EVEN IF THE CLIENT DOESN'T WANT HER."

"Yes Ms. Greer." Harold slightly bowed and showed—or shoved—Chase out the door. "You got lucky this time. Don't think you'll be so lucky the next."

"Yes sir."

* * *

"Hey babe." A man wearing a familiar green camo shirt, black dress pants, and green sneakers lightly kissed his long-time girlfriend. His girlfriend had teal streaks in her black hair, and it was shoulder length, and she had on blue lipstick, a dark black V-neck shirt with a black leather jacket on top, a short black skirt, and stiletto boots.

"Another great performance Trent?" Her black eyes lit up in excitement of yet another sold-out concert. After the events of TD, a chance encounter brought Gwen and Trent back together, and the two rekindled their broken relationship. Now, they were as happy as ever. Gwen was Trent's PR in a sense (she helped design ads and commercials), and Trent was a famous music star. He hadn't received an award yet, but he was determined to do so, and that's why the two were on a world tour, currently in Japan. Their next stop was the United States, and then they'd be back in their home country of Canada. The two were still dating, and they wanted to get married as soon as they got back home in Canada.

"Yep, and it was our last one here. We're going to head off tomorrow morning to Los Angeles."

"Hey, do you think we'll be able to visit some of our friends from TD? I know a few of them live there."

"I know that Geoff and Bridgette live there. Maybe we could drop by and catch up on old times."

"Do you think they're still dating?" Gwen and Trent hadn't heard from any of their friends from TD in over a year, and they were one of the few former reality stars that kept in touch with all of their friends.

"They could be married by now for all we know." The two shared a laugh. Of course, they didn't know the FULL story, about the tragic events that had started a week ago. "So who else can we visit?"

"There's Geoff and Bridgette, Sadie, Noah, Izzy and Owen, and Duncan from what I remember." She left out the recent arrival of DJ and Ezekiel, but she didn't know they were in LA. Trent was okay with Duncan (the two forgave each other in the third season of TD, Total Drama the Musical), and Gwen and Trent knew Sadie and Noah much better than they did in the past.

"They all got involved in crime, right?"

"Not Duncan and not Bridgette. He ended up becoming a counselor for juvenile kids, and she ended up running her own line of surfing gear."

"Imagine that: the delinquent ended up helping other delinquents as a career."

"But all the rest got involved in crime."

"You ever think it was because of…the incident?"

"From time to time. But I don't like to think about it." The couple finished packing the tour bus and got on it so they could go back to the hotel to pack.

* * *

Courtney stopped having so many dreams and flashbacks, but they didn't disappear. She had become extremely self-aware and found out Lindsay's name, and also had flashbacks of a certain short haired thin woman: Katie. After she was kidnapped eight years ago, she was taken to the New York branch, and then transferred to the Las Vegas branch. Courtney learned that the gorgeous man's name was Justin, and that he was someone to stay away from due to his evil deceit (she had flashbacks about his evil acts in Total Drama Action). Bridgette felt somehow drawn to Courtney, and the two became good friends, doing everything together. Secretly, Courtney attempted to educate Bridgette about who she was, but it didn't stick in Bridgette's mind. Courtney sighed after another long night of teaching.

"Please Bridgette, please…"

"I don't get it."

"Let's go." _I will not give up on her. I can't. She's my friend._ They both left to their beds at the curfew time, and Courtney went to sleep with sadness on her face.

* * *

"Duncan?" Owen asked over the phone. It was Duncan's wake-up call that morning, around 10 AM.

"Yeah Owen? I haven't heard from you in a few days, did you get any new info yet?"

"You should come to Izzy and I. How about we meet at Café Noir?"

"Isn't that on Wilcox? The same place as the LAPD?" Duncan raised an eyebrow—or the side of his brow.

"Yeah, but we're not going there. Izzy and I don't like to associate ourselves with police; that's why we're PRIVATE investigators. But Café Noir has really good coffee, and I can't go too long without it."

"Fine. When should I be there?"

"As soon as possible. Izzy and I are on our way out of the office now. We're just getting a few things." Duncan was highly skeptical of everything Owen was telling him, but he believed him. After all, Owen couldn't lie to save his ass—at least, that's what Duncan thought.

"See you then." Duncan hung up.

"C'mon Izzy, let's go." The couple grabbed their coats and got into their beat-up, dingy, and green Toyota Avalon. Izzy immediately started using her Bluetooth earpiece.

"Geoff, thank goodness. All right, Duncan took the bait. He's coming, and he's coming soon. We're planning to meet at Café Noir, so bring the others along. If Duncan tries to make a break for it, we'll hold him down. Snag a table when you get there, okay? We're almost there. Bye!" Izzy hung up. She had been talking for the majority of the car ride, so she only waited in silence for a few more minutes before they parked on the side of the road and went inside the café. Geoff, Noah, Sadie, DJ, and Ezekiel were already waiting for them.

"Izzy! Owen! Sit at the other table." Geoff pointed to a table right next to him. "You couldn't have picked a diner? At least there are table booths to better conceal our identities there."

"It's 10 AM. We get our coffee at this time, so we're not breaking tradition anytime soon." Owen remarked.

"Okay, Ezekiel and I are going to be in separate places in the room, and Sadie and Noah are going to pose as a couple drinking coffees, of course, somewhere near you. Geoff will be in the line to get coffee, so we have eyes and ears everywhere. Start relaxing and acting natural." DJ and Ezekiel left them, Geoff got in line to get coffee, Sadie and Noah left to another table within earshot of Izzy and Owen, and that left Izzy and Owen, who sat down at their table. Duncan walked in a minute later. Izzy wildly waved to him when she saw him enter. He immediately went to sit down at the table.

"Ah fuck! I need my coffee!" Owen suddenly yelled. "Do you guys want any?"

"I'll have a black coffee." Duncan muttered.

"Oh, me too!" Izzy jumped up out of her seat. "Oh shit! I forgot the files! Duncan, so sorry, I'll be right back!" And in a flash, Izzy was out the door. Noah and Sadie looked at each other, as did DJ and Ezekiel, and all of them didn't know what was going on. However, Geoff did because Owen started to tell him the plan that he and Izzy concocted right before Duncan walked in.

"We faked Duncan out. At this point, while Izzy is outside getting her "files", go get the others and talk to Duncan. If he makes a break for it, he'll be stopped by Izzy."

"Clever! But yeah, I'll get them." Geoff walked out of the line and gathered the others, who then approached Duncan's table.

"Can I help you?" Duncan looked up at them and sneered.

"FBI, RCMP. You'll need to come with us." DJ coldly issued. Duncan's eyes widened, and as suspected, he ran for the door. However, Izzy had watched the whole thing, and as Duncan was about to step outside, Izzy stopped him.

"I'm sorry." Izzy stepped out of the way, and DJ made sure to quietly handcuff Duncan, just in case he tried to escape again. They left to the LAPD crime lab, and they were back in Conference Room 2B.

"Who the hell are you two?" Duncan spat at DJ and Ezekiel. They had showed him into the room, leaving Geoff, Sadie, Noah, Owen, and Izzy outside.

"FBI Agent Douglas Jones and RCMP Ezekiel Parker." DJ coldly explained again.

"Huh. DJ and Home-school. Haven't heard from you two in a while. So you became FBI and RCMP agents?"

"Yeah, they did." Geoff answered for DJ as he walked in with Owen, Izzy, Sadie, and Noah in tow. "Sorry, but we need you for interrogation."

"So you all betrayed me. Geoff, Izzy, and Owen. You could've just asked in the first place and I would've come. You didn't need to bring FBI and RCMP agents. So what do you want?"

"We didn't ask for them. They came." Noah briefly explained.

"And why is that?"

"BECAUSE COURTNEY ISN'T REALLY DEAD!" Sadie suddenly yelled. "Izzy, don't try to say that she's been dead since 2012, because she isn't. Duncan, Courtney has been kidnapped. We don't know who did it or why or where she went; all we know is that she's gone."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would've helped."

"We're forgetting something here: we can't go public with this. Technically, Courtney doesn't exist." Noah added. EVERYONE looked at him.

"What do you mean she doesn't exist?" Sadie asked him.

"I did a background check on Courtney, and I got nothing. When I pulled up Dana's profile, there was no record of her being on TD—any of the seasons."

"What's going on here?" Ezekiel asked everyone. "We're missing something. Courtney dies in an accident, she disappears, no record of her is found, she resurfaces as someone else, this person becomes someone else in the WPP, and then she shows up dead, only for us to find out that the body is a clone and that she's been kidnapped."

"I—I need to go. Can we meet up again tomorrow?" DJ asked.

"Sure, but could you get the handcuffs off me first?" Duncan asked. DJ found a small key in his suit pocket and freed Duncan. Duncan rubbed his sore wrists.

"Maybe we should meet at someone's house." DJ asked.

"Not mine." Duncan immediately responded.

"Not ours either." Izzy replied, referring to Owen.

"I don't think a hotel suite is the best place to meet." Ezekiel commented.

"Geoff, you own a nice place. You think we could swing by there at 7 PM tomorrow?" Duncan commented.

"Uh…sure, Duncan. I guess I could use the company since Bridge has been kidnapped and all…"

"Wait. Bridgette's been kidnapped?" DJ asked Geoff. He nodded. "I'm going. Call me if something comes up." DJ left the group in the conference room.

* * *

"Tell me how we're going to contain this Harold!" Heather shoved him a case file before leaving the room. He opened the case file, sat on one of the black leather sofas, and started reading. First page: Tyler Shaw. _Crap._

* * *

**A/N:** So how'd you like this one? There's more action in the next one, don't worry. So more trivia:

Cafe Noir is made up, but the street name isn't. There's an actual street in LA called Wilcox Avenue. At least, that's what I read on the internet.

The secret operation that Geoff and Co. pulled on Duncan would probably NEVER happen in real life.

Did you notice that so many characters are OOC? That's because time has passed, and it must be reflected! The Incident did things...along with a ton of other tradgedies that will emerge later.

Couples so far: DuncanxCourtney, GwenxTrent, GeoffxBridgette, KatiexNoah, SadiexDJ, BethxCody, more to come

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "What You Don't Know"-Jonatha Brooke (this is the theme to Dollhouse), "U+UR Hand"-P!nk, "Broken"-Lifehouse (radio and original verisons)

If you can guess who The Sir is, every single thing in the chapter will make sense. If you have a remote idea of what "the incident" could be, review! I'd love to see what you think! The RUNDOWN! Why did DJ suddenly leave? What does Tyler have to do with the Twilight Mall? Will Courtney realize where she is and try to break free? How are Gwen and Trent going to work their way into this fanfic? How's Chris doing right now? Will Duncan clash with Geoff and Company? All that and more, NEXT!!! Review please!


	7. Hunter and the Hunted

**A/N: **Next chapter comin' at you! I love this one, mainly because of all of the action. Yeah, lots of action. And now, Blaire and Tawny are in this fanfic, but in minor roles. Chase is going to become extremely important in this fanfic now, and more flashbacks are going to occur. More fun for you and me! So review, disclaimer is in the first chapter, GO!

_

* * *

_

Three years ago, Cody acted on orders from Heather, who was acting on orders from The Sir, to try and imprint one of their Mankins with the necessary skills to defend itself if the FBI ever found their hiding place. The Mankin's name: Tyler Shaw. However, things went horribly wrong. Tyler's imprints suddenly resurfaced all at once, and the latest imprint that Cody was using, that of a killer with the knowledge of a precise surgeon, went on a killing spree in the complex. Courtney was taking a shower at the time, and her Clerk, Monty Rowan, had been killed with many precise cuts using a 10 centimeter knife, not serrated. Cody was nearby Monty and Cody had been splashed with his blood. Cody quickly sounded the alarm soon after.

_While Tyler went on his killing spree, any living Mankins were quickly shown to their beds._

"_What's that sound?" One of them asked. It was the alarm, and in the Mankin's mind-wiped state, he didn't know it._

"_It's nothing; please get into your beds." A woman by the name of Blaire Yamoto quickly answered._

"_But we haven't had our shower. We always shower before—" Another female red-haired Mankin started, but was cut off by Blaire._

"_Everything's all right, please get into your beds." All of the Mankins got into their beds, and the shields for the beds started closing. Blaire breathed in and out sharply, hoping that whatever the problem was, it'd soon pass._

_Harold Diamante had gathered a team of trained SWAT officers, all of them had volunteered for the job._

"_Secure the exits. Anyone tries to breach, shoot 'em in the head—twice." Harold saw Monty's scarred body on the floor. "Cody! CODY!"_

"_Guns! Can I have one?" Cody quickly asked._

"_What happened?!"_

"_That's—that's the thing, it just happened. He went commando and got a knife and…and what he did to Monty…"_

"_WHO?!" Harold yelled again._

"_Tyler. We've had a Fritz." Heather, wearing a black wrap dress and hair in a ponytail answered. She had just walked up to the two._

"_He gets wiped after every Outing like all the rest. How could he Fritz?"_

"_He can't—shouldn't—did." Cody looked down, dejected. He was still somewhat bereft after the loss of Monty. They were really good friends, and in a flash, he was dead. Heather sharply sighed._

"_Target acquired." One of the SWAT officers responded over Harold's walkie-talkie._

"_Where?"_

"_Corridor 37. Target—AAAHHH!!" There was static on the other end._

"_Move out." Harold responded over the walkie-talkie and left._

"_Gun? Seriously?" Cody asked._

"_Shut up Cody." Heather briskly walked away, leaving him with Monty's dead body._

"_AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" A scream filled the air. Cody recognized it immediately and ran to Dr. Levin's office space._

"_BETH!" Tyler was in the room, and he turned around to face Cody, fire in Tyler's eyes. Tyler ran to Cody, knife in hand, but Cody swiftly dodged him and ran to a whimpering Beth. "We have to get out of here. Let's go." The two quickly ran away and out of Tyler's grasp. Tyler growled and skulked elsewhere, in fact, to the exits, where he killed the SWAT officers and left._

_Meanwhile, Harold and his team were now at the shower stalls, and what they found wasn't a pretty sight. Every single Mankin, a total of four, had been killed, save one. Courtney. She was trembling._

"_They w-w-won't w-w-wake up."_

"_Negative contact. Continuing sweep." Harold commanded through his walkie-talkie and left Courtney in the shower. _

* * *

As Harold read the case file, he found out that it was believed that Tyler's MO had resurfaced at a suburban home in Los Angeles. The investigation had gone cold, and it was said that there was someone living there. However, no one living in the area dared to find out.

"Harold! We have a client coming! Take a break—outside." Heather walked in and darkly added, and Harold gave back the case file and left the office. Today, Heather was wearing a blue V-neck sleeveless blouse and a blue pencil skirt, along with towering high heels. Another man with blonde hair and wearing a pink button down shirt, grey work pants, and black dress shoes walked in just as Harold left. "Mr. Dowel..."

"Please, call me Richard." Heather sighed. She didn't like being bossed around, a trait that she had from birth.

"Richard, please, have a seat." Richard sat down on the black leather sofa, tea on the coffee table already brewed and warm for him. Heather took a seat opposite Richard on a single black leather sofa. "What services would you require?"

"I want a girl who can keep up with me on my mountain trip in the Sierra Nevadas, who lives for the rush. This includes rock climbing, river rapid rafting, crossbow hunting, and…" Richard chuckled at this. "Being very good in bed. I was referred here by a very good friend of mine, and he says that I can get the perfect girl here. He recommends Courtney."

"Yes, you can get the perfect girl here. And Courtney is available. Mankins, we like to call them. In their resting stage, they are as innocent and vulnerable as children. We call it the Tabula Rasa, the blank slate. Now imagine the imprint process fulfilling it, creating a new personality. A friend, lover, or confidante in a sea of enemies. Your heart's desire made flesh. And, when the Outing has been completed, all memory of you and your time together will be wiped clean."

"Neat trick."

"Tricks are illusions Richard. Constructed to deceive. What we offer is truth."

"A rare commodity."

"Hence the exuberant price tag."

"I've been with a lot of women Ms. Greer, not bragging, just what you would call truth, and not one of them turned out to be who they said they were. Your services may be expensive, but at least this time, I'll be the one telling the girl what to lie about."

"Oh, she won't lie to you Richard. Everything you want, everything you need, she will be, honestly and completely."

"That'll be something new."

"There is, however, one small problem."

"I thought everything was good with the background check." He took a sip from his shallow cup.

"That's not our concern." Heather got up and walked to a desk with a notepad on it for her use. "Your Outing has been flagged as a…moderate risk to our Mankin, nothing serious. Our company policy requires a small additional fee against any…unforeseen complications." She quickly dashed away a high amount of money on the slip of paper and handed it to Richard, who was now standing. When he looked at it, he gave a small burst of laughter. _$100,000?!_

"Small, huh?"

"To my employer, it's miniscule." Heather smugly smiled on the inside. Richard had enervated her ever since he told her to call him by his first name. _He didn't see this coming. I've won this battle_.

"Well, if this girl is everything you promise, money's no object."

"Just make sure you return her safe and sound. Otherwise, there will be additional costs, and they're much higher than what I've written for you."

"I'll be sure to keep her happy." And with that, he left the office. Harold walked in.

"Everything just fine?" He asked her.

"Yes. Make sure to get Chase ready, same with Courtney. They're going on a mountain trip." Heather smiled, and Harold bowed and walked out of the office. Heather then left to her desk and called Cody. "Cody, when Courtney comes, have Imprint #3290 ready for her." She hung up, and Harold had just walked in with Chase.

"What did you want?" Chase asked.

"You have a chance to prove yourself once more." Heather smiled once more.

"You'll be able to keep watch over Courtney's internals, such as heart rate, but no eyes and ears. As we speak, Cody is initializing the imprint and someone is escorting her to our client, who is waiting on the ground floor. You and another one of our staff, David Wells, are to follow her into the Sierra Nevadas, which is where she's going. We're giving you fake ID; if the need arises, you are to pose as two cameramen for the local news trying to get B-roll for a piece on the brush fires that have ravaged the area." Harold handed Chase a laminated studio pass.

"Harold Crehan. Nice."

"There's no time for your smart remarks Chase. Now go down to the ground floor; Courtney is already gone by now." Heather ordered him out. Chase left the office.

* * *

Courtney and Richard were river rapid rafting, and the two had just finished and were pulling the raft up to the pebble littered shore.

"I think I pulled my weight on that rapid. What was the level of difficulty?" Courtney asked Richard. She was wearing a teal spaghetti strap top over a pink bikini top, and she was also wearing black short shorts and grey cross-training shoes.

"That? That was a five."

"A five? Three, three and a half, maybe. If it was a five, I'd be fishing you out of the water."

"You think so, huh?" They leaned in for a kiss, and she deepened it. "Now get your ass moving before I leave you for the wolves, or whatever they have here that eats guys that can't keep up." She grabbed her backpack and threw Richard's his.

"Yes ma'am." He wryly chuckled. After another long hike, they were rock climbing a cliff. She decided to fake him out a bit, for a good laugh. So she pretended to act scared, and started free falling from the ledge when she couldn't climb up a certain point. Richard caught her belay just in time, and he was honestly worried about her. Not directly about her, but the exorbitant money he'd have to pay if she fell to her death.

"Look at your face! Oh God, that was brilliant!" She threw her head back and laughed.

"That's not funny. Do you know how much trouble I'd be in if you went splat?"

"Yeah, my brothers would kill you!" She started climbing up again.

"Quit screwin' around."

"C'mon, I'll race you to the top."

In a clearing of the woods, in a black van, Chase and David were staked out. Chase was watching over Courtney's vitals—but they were extremely fuzzy due to the bad signal. And Cody was on the line with Chase.

"Everything looks beautiful from here. Vitals are right online." Cody talked through his Bluetooth earpiece. He was at his computer munching on some barbeque flavored potato chips and a bottle of water was situated nearby if he ever got thirsty.

"What about her adrenaline?" Chase asked.

"Within Outing parameters."

"Are you sure? She's nearing red line."

"Relax dude, I've been reading the squigglies long enough to discern time of my life, whoo hoo, from sweet mother of God I'm going to die. In other words, she's fine." He had finished his barbeque potato chips and was on his way to get more. "Wait, why don't you go soak up some nature? You know, smell the honey, wrestle a grizzly. Leave the science to the Codemeister." Cody chuckled.

"How about clearing up my signal Codemeister? Displays are as crappy as can be."

"You're in the middle of the Sierras! You shouldn't be expecting HD or something."

"At least get me more coverage. Re-task an auxiliary satellite."

"What's the magic word?" Cody asked chidingly.

"Uh…please?"

"I was looking for abra-cadabra, but please works too." Cody started walking back to his computer. "Okay, re-tasking auxiliary satellite nombre un quatre cinq neuf quinze. It'll take a few to move into alignment."

"Next time, drop the French." Chase sighed as he sipped from his coffee cup. "But thanks."

"Anything for you. Because I love you, deep, deep man love." Chase hung up after Cody went into his talk about man love. "Crap. He's going to hear no end of me when he calls back for hanging up on me." Cody went to work re-tasking auxiliary satellite #145915.

"The woods." David sneered while reading his newspaper.

"Yep." Chase simply responded.

"I hate the woods."

"Yep."

* * *

After the rock climbing excursion, the couple was now in the woods, hunting using a very complex bow. Richard was showing off his arrows.

"Carbon shaft, three blade broad head."

"Damn!" Courtney examined it and touched the tip of the arrow.

"Hey, you'll scare away lunch." They weren't just hunting; they were hunting for their own food.

"You couldn't have packed a couple sandwiches?"

"Sandwiches don't give you a rush when you try to eat them; they just lay there waiting for mustard."

"I like mustard." Richard chuckled.

"All right, now, don't grip the bow too tightly, relax your arm, make sure you don't put too much torque into it…"

"You're pretty good at this, aren't you?" Courtney smartly remarked.

"My dad taught me. He was a big believer in…" He then slapped his right shoulder with his left hand.

"Was that a salute? Am I supposed to salute?"

"No, no, it's shoulder to the wheel. Do the work, earn your way. If you can bring down something bigger than you with just that bow, you deserve to eat it. If it gets away, you prove it deserves to live, and you go hungry. Dad thought we all take too much for granted."

"And you? Do you agree with your father?"

"I enjoy every moment, particularly this one."

"Huh. I'm not the first girl you've brought into the woods…"

"Nope. But you're the one I've had the most fun with." They were about to kiss, and then…

"Richard. Wh-what do I do?" She had sighted a deer through the trees.

"Okay, extend your bow arm. Draw back, keep your elbow high, and never take a shot unless you're completely sure it'll put your target down. Aim for the flank or below the shoulders, and…release." The deer was felled. "Oh my God, I did it!" She ran to it and looked at the deer. There was no blood, just an arrow in the deer's side.

"Looks like you deserve to eat it."

"You too. You helped me, so you get some too."

"You were thinking about not giving me any?"

"Maybe…"

"Come on, let's cook this baby." They both took the carcass to a clearing in the woods and set up camp there. After having one very satisfying lunch, things started taking a turn for the worse.

"This was a lot of fun. We need to do this more often." Courtney gave Richard a quick kiss on the lips.

"We need to get going."

"Going? Where?"

"There's just enough daylight to make it back to the main road. And you'll want all the daylight you can get."

"What? Am I missing something? Richard—"

"You need to stop talking now and start running. I'll give you a five minute head start. And then I'm coming after you." Courtney immediately got up and started running for her life. She didn't know where she was going, but anywhere away from Richard was okay. _That look in his eyes…he really wants to kill me. I better get to the main road, and fast._

* * *

_A worker at the complex named Tawny Morrison referred her boyfriend Chase Orson to the complex. Chase had extensive training in the SWAT, FBI, and a lot of other organizations that specialized in self-defense. It had only been a few days since Tyler's Fritz and workers were still cleaning the blood stains off the décor. Harold was already waiting with Chase as Heather came down to meet him._

"_Welcome to the complex Mr. Orson. You come highly recommended." Heather was wearing black, this time, it was a black A-line dress. But it was true; Tawny often had a knack for recommending people; after all, she had recommended Beth, Cody, Harold, and Monty when Heather wouldn't have given them a second thought. Thusly, Tawny was extremely valuable to Heather._

"_So the stories are true, huh? Programmable people made to order."_

"_It's a little more complicated than that." Heather creased her eyebrows._

"_Right. Figured everything's not what it seems, especially something like this, under a perfectly legal cover and all."_

"_Science isn't always what it seems Mr. Orson. Being on the cutting edge invites an element of risk into the equation."_

"_Which is why you're here." Harold added._

"_In the light of recent events, we've decided to engage individuals with a…shall we say, intensive background. If you read your contract, you'll have seen that you've been assigned to Courtney, one of our most requested Mankins."_

"_So uh…what happened to her last Clerk?"_

"_You're standing in him." Beth shyly explained. She was still wearing her lab coat, except she had on a black knee length skirt and green blouse. She had just walked up to the three. Chase looked down and immediately stepped off a blood stained area of the wood floor._

"_This is our resident physician, Dr. Levin. This is Mr. Orson, who will be replacing Mr. Rowan."_

"_So does this mean I can get his body out of my office?" Beth asked Heather as she shook Chase's hand._

"_We'll take care of it." Harold coldly commanded._

"_Right. Everything's…under control." Beth bit her lip. "It's nice to have you on the team. Watch where you step." Beth left the group, a few tears falling from her eyes. It still pained her to think about losing Monty and almost losing her own life. Even Cody could've been killed by Tyler, but he wasn't. The tears wouldn't stop falling for a long time._

"_She seems to have some emotional damage."_

"_Dr. Levin is still…recovering from the loss of Mr. Rowan. They were good friends, and she herself almost lost her life."_

"_To the same guy who killed Rowan?"_

"_Yes, but she was more fortunate."_

"_I want to see Rowan's body."_

"_You really don't." Heather's eyebrows creased in disgust. She was being bossed around, something she hated._

"_Show me." She sighed._

"_Harold, take Mr. Orson to Dr. Levin's office." They parted ways._

"_Rowan. He was a good man." Harold explained as he and Chase looked down at Monty's scratched face._

"_Not good enough, apparently." Chase mumbled. Then he started examining the body. "Single blade, 10 centimeters, not serrated…tendons and extremities were severed first to disable him, and then the real work began. Yeah, knew exactly where to cut to cause a lot of blood loss—and pain. Whoever did this must've taken their time; he's a real piece of work."_

"_Eight seconds."_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_There's a timeline we've been able to piece together."_

"_But the cuts are meticulous, almost surgical. It's practically impossible to cut up a man like this in such a short amount of time."_

"_It isn't…unless you've been imprinted with the right skills."_

"_You're telling me one of your Mankins did this? You programmed them to become Jack the Ripper?"_

"_Hey, it's not my department. All I know is that Tyler accessed multiple imprints that should've been erased and one of them did this. He slaughtered almost everyone around Courtney before he pulled the smoke and mirrors."_

"_So why didn't he kill Courtney?"_

* * *

"Five minutes up dollface. Let's see how far you got." Richard chuckled to himself before gathering his bow and leaving the campsite. Meanwhile, Courtney was at the cliff again, and since she didn't have any climbing gear, she slid down as best she could, albeit getting a few cuts and scrapes along the way.

* * *

DJ was now back in his little cubicle in the FBI building. After Geoff told him Bridgette had been kidnapped, DJ feared the worst for her. Not death…but the Twilight Mall. After finding out that Courtney didn't exist according to the FBI, he immediately started searching for all of his TD friends. He wrote his results on a sheet of paper that went as so:

_Ezekiel: Yes, RCMP agent_

_Eva: No_

_Noah: Yes, CSI of LAPD_

_Justin: No_

_Katie: No_

_Tyler: No_

_Izzy: Yes, PI with Owen_

_Cody: Yes, computer technician of Mann Corporation, Las Vegas branch_

_Beth: Yes, private doctor to Mann Corporation, Las Vegas branch_

_Sadie: Yes, coroner of LA_

_Courtney: No_

_Harold: Yes, head security official of Mann Corporation, Las Vegas branch_

_Trent: Yes, music star_

_Bridgette: No_

_Lindsay: No_

_Geoff: Yes, lieutenant of LAPD_

_Leshawna: Yes, head of hip-hop dance troupe_

_Duncan: Yes, juvenile counselor at Hollywood High School_

_Heather: Yes, head of Mann Corporation, Las Vegas branch_

_Gwen: Yes, PR of Trent_

_Owen: Yes, PI with Izzy_

Eva, Justin, Katie, Tyler, Courtney, Bridgette, and Lindsay all didn't exist. DJ's fears had been confirmed: they were all in the Twilight Mall. And the fact that Cody, Beth, Harold, and Heather worked for Mann Corporation, a big suspect in his eyes, only made it worse. And anyone who wasn't working with him was in grave danger. It meant that Trent, Gwen, and Leshawna could be kidnapped at this point. _Someone wants us all gone._

* * *

Courtney wasn't doing too good in terms of running. She didn't get far away from the cliff until Richard spotted her using his hiking spyglass. He then loaded up his arrow, and at the greatest time too; she had stopped to catch her breath and find Richard. He released it, skimming Courtney's thigh and landing in the felled trunk she was standing in front of. If she had been wearing pants, the blow would've been much less severe; however, she was still wearing her short shorts, and the gash the arrow left behind was somewhat deep. There was another arrow aimed for her head, but she dodged just in time, and started running once more.

Meanwhile, Cody was back online with Chase; just to alert him about the satellite re-task coming online. Cody decided to hold back his scolding remarks this time.

"Satellite re-tasking coming online…"

"When?"

"Uh…anytime now." Then Chase heard David knocking on the grate between the two guys.

"We've got company."

"Cody, I'm going to have to call you back." Chase hung up immediately and grabbed a map. Making sure his ID was in his jacket, he stepped out of the car and started acting, as did David.

"All right, looks like we're there!" David grinned.

"Uh…no. We're somewhere over there." Chase pointed to a random spot on the map. "There is where we want to be, here is where we are."

"Excuse me! This area is restricted. There are no vehicles off the main road." The ranger who had come to the two men informed them.

"Sorry, uh…we're completely turned around, could you point us in the right direction?" Chase asked the ranger.

"What're you fellas doing way out here?"

"Local news. We're shooting some B-roll for a piece about the brush fires that have ravaged the area, you know, like a compare-contrast sort of thing."

"You have ID to go along with that story?"

"Yeah, here." Chase fished his ID out of his jacket. The ranger looked at it, almost scrutinizing it. Then he smiled and handed it back to Chase.

"Can't be too careful Mr. Crehan. Being so far off the beaten path does invite an unsafe element."

"No worries officer. We couldn't be more—" Chase was cut off by two silenced bullets into David's chest. David slumped down to the floor.

"Now, let's get in your van, and we'll have a little chat." Chase was held at gunpoint as he went into the back of the van with the ranger.

* * *

_Chase was watching the Mankins practice yoga from the second floor. Cody decided to make this time his opportunity to introduce himself to the new Clerk._

"_The new Rowan." Cody grinned. "You're smaller than the last one, but hey, at least I won't be as intimidated. Uh, Cody Linken, the man behind the gray matter curtain." Cody held out his hand, and Chase shook it._

"_So Tyler was one of your creations." Chase turned back to watching the Mankins practice yoga. Cody's grin fell at Chase's blunt remark._

"_Yeah…yeah. That was an uh…anomaly. There's unpredictable remainders; we're still working out the kinkies."_

"_Like the blood, the screaming, the dying? Look at them. They're a bunch of helpless children. Did the ones Tyler slaughtered even put up a fight?"_

"_Frankly, they wouldn't know how. Not without an imprint at least."_

"_Why not default them with, I don't know, ninja skills or something?"_

"_We tried that, actually." Cody sheepishly chuckled._

"_And?"_

"_Blood, screaming, dying, need I say more?"_

"_Tyler." Chase sighed. He saw Courtney leave the group._

"_So what do you think of your new girl?"_

"_She's not a girl. She's not even a person, just an empty hat…until you stuff a rabbit in it." Chase walked off, leaving Cody to ponder the personality of this new Clerk._

"_Abra-cadabra." Cody whispered._

* * *

Courtney was starting to lose her speed and balance. When she ran down a hill, she tripped and tumbled over herself into a bunch of branches.

"CRAP!!!!!" She pulled herself up and kept running.

Cody was watching this, eating his chips, and the squigglies were reading to him sweet mother of God I'm going to fucking die. He called up Chase immediately.

"Dude! Are you reading the squigglies?!"

"Yeah, I'm reading 'em."

"Okay, these are the not-so-good ones. These are the sweet mother of God I'm going to fucking die ones. What the hell is going on up there?"

"Everything's fine." Chase tersely responded.

"Are you sure about that dude?"

"Yeah, except for the gun pointed at my head." Chase hung up at that point and got into an all-out brawl with the ranger who had him hostage in his own van.

"Chase? Dude? Dude! What the hell?!" He ended his call and immediately started running to Heather's office.

* * *

"Now for a little briefing." Harold quickly pulled up a few things on Heather's computer, which was hooked up to the plasma screen TV in the office. A profile showed up of a certain FBI agent they knew all too well. Douglas Jones. DJ. "He's a threat."

"Agent Jones—"

"Skip the formalities Heather, its DJ! From TD!"

"Don't tell me what to do. Agent Jones," Harold glared at her. She sighed. "DJ has been blindly groping for over two years. He knows nothing."

"We know him! And I've been on his team all three seasons! You were on his team in TDA! When something gets under his skin, at least, after TDA, he won't stop until it's been scratched down."

"And how would you suggest we handle this?"

"Neutralize the risk before it becomes untamable." Heather immediately knew what this meant, and she made a point of it by standing up and walking to him.

"Authorize a kill order on a federal agent, and someone we know too? I think you overestimate his abilities!"

"Even a blind dog can find a bone if he digs enough holes."

"Don't pull that proverb crap on me. Have the appropriate measures been taken?"

"Heather, I don't think you fully—" Cody burst into the door, panting from his long run.

"Guys! Guys! I think we've got a situation, the kind that needs guns."

"What is it Cody?" Heather glared at him.

"I think Chase is in a hostage situation, and there might be trouble with Courtney. Her heartbeat is escalating through the roof, and her adrenaline is also way up. I think she's in trouble." Heather and Harold glanced at each other.

"You know what to do Harold." Heather simply responded. Harold immediately started running out of the office.

* * *

Courtney was running, and she reached the river. The boat was still there, but it was deflated. A frantic look over revealed that there was a tear in it, so no hope of paddling out. Meanwhile, Richard rappelled down the side of the cliff. He was taking his sweet time with the hunt. Courtney just kept running and running, and then she found a small cabin home. _It must be safe, but what is it doing way out here? _She quickly ran in, safe for now. She realized she was absolutely thirsty, and she found a canteen, which she immediately drank out of. But she was stopped when she heard a noise, like a walkie-talkie. She set the canteen down on a desk and walked over to the closet. When she opened it, she was in for a nasty shock. A ranger's dead body fell on top of her, and she was immediately down on the ground. With trembling hands, she removed the walkie-talkie off the dead man's body, and she tried to contact anyone for help.

"Hello? Is there anybody out there? I need help, please, somebody!" She put the walkie-talkie up to her ear, praying for a response.

"Hey baby." She almost dropped the walkie-talkie out of fright, but a feeling of anger and rage set in. "Guess you found Ranger Bob, huh?" Richard was near the river, where she had been only a short while ago.

"Why are you doing this?"

"'Cause I wanna know."

"What do you want to know, you sick son of a bitch?!"

"If you deserve to live. You've earned the right."

"You know what gives someone the right to live?! Not hunting them!"

"That's it! Shoulder to the wheel! Prove you're not just an echo."

"You want proof, you fucking psycho?! How about this: I'm gonna kill you! Will that prove it? I'm gonna stab you—" She suddenly burst into a fit of coughing and held her hand to her throat as though she were choking.

"Whoa babe, you don't sound too good. Hey, you didn't drink out of a canteen in there, did you? 'Cause, um, that would be bad."

* * *

_"Is it time for my Treatment yet?" Courtney asked Cody. She was back on the seat in his lab, and he was applying a few patches to her chest._

"_Yes, but this is a very special one Courtney. This one won't pinch like the others you don't remember." Cody finished applying the patches and left to the machine to boot it up. She then laid her eyes on Chase, who had been called into the room._

"_Hello. You're kinda short, aren't you?" Courtney smiled. Chase rolled his eyes at the somewhat offensive remark._

"_Do I have to be here for this?"_

"_Clerk-Mankin imprint requires a direct line of sight, so she needs to be staring into those dreamy brown eyes when I wave my magic wand."_

"_Then what? Me and Special Needs become buddy-buddy?"_

"_Hey! This isn't about friendship dude, it's about trust. From this point on, Courtney will always trust you without question or hesitation, no matter what the circumstance might be. You're about to become the most important person in her life." Chase glanced at her once more._

"_Let's just get this over with."_

"_Hey! This is art; it's not an oil change! Rush the brush strokes and you get a clown on black velvet." Cody handed Chase a sheet of paper._

"_What's this?"_

"_It's your script. Call and response, neural lock and key…all right dude, let's get the show on the road."_

"_Everything's going to be—"_

"_Whoa, whoa, whoa! First, take her hand."_

"_Excuse me?"_

"_Hold her hand. Dude, tactile proximity enhances bonding protocol. Okay, take two staring…now."_

"_Everything's going to be all right."_

"_Now that you're here." Courtney responded in a monotone voice._

"_Do you trust me?"_

"_With my life."_

* * *

Courtney ran out of the cabin with what little awareness she had left. The water was starting to take its toll on her; she was walking wobbly on a downhill slope. Richard barged into the cabin and used his walkie-talkie to contact her.

"How you feeling sweetness? A little funky right about now? Don't worry, the stuff's not going to kill ya. The guy I got it from said it would just put a spin on things. So what do you see? You spinnin' yet?" Courtney looked around, and her vision was certainly blurred. She was seeing double of everything. But what was perfectly solid was a figure she saw walking through the woods. She had tan skin, shoulder length brown hair, was wearing grey wedges, an elbow length grey shirt over a white polo shirt, and some olive green capris. Courtney immediately started to run to this figure.

"Hey. Hey, wait!" She reached out to the figure's hand, and the figure turned around.

"Get away from me you Ogre!" The figure looked just like her and wasn't too happy.

"Wh-wh-what?" She kept backing away from the figure, but then she tripped over a thick branch. She ended up tumbling backwards, and fell into the river. _Crap, crap, I'm going to die._

Chase had finished fixing the computers in the van, and he had visuals again. In his hand, he had the ranger's gun with the silencer on it. _If he even is a ranger._ Chase had long taken off his jacket, and he was wearing a white crew neck shirt and grey pants. The ranger was starting to fall back into consciousness, and Chase noticed.

"How many?"

"What?" Chase shot a bullet into the ranger's right thigh. The ranger emitted a loud scream.

"How many men between me and the girl?"

"I don't know. I don't know, I swear to God!" Chase shot another bullet, this time into the ranger's left thigh. Again, the ranger screamed.

"I don't think you're listening."

"The guy hired me over the phone! I never met him! I was just supposed to get you to stall the response team."

"And then put a bullet in my head."

"Hey, it's business. Don't take it personally." Chase wryly smiled, and then he used the butt of the gun to slap the ranger in the side of his head. The ranger passed out at this point.

"I don't." Chase left the van to find Courtney.

* * *

Courtney was washed up on the river bank, and she was coughing up water. But what she saw wasn't the woods; it was a shower stall, and there were dead bodies around her. There were cuts on the bodies, and she saw a figure, a shadowy figure holding a small bloody knife. _Wake up. _A voice called to her, and in a flash, she opened her eyes, and she was back on the pebble littered river bank, and Richard was contacting her over the walkie-talkie.

"Wake up. Ah, you're doing great baby. Don't quit on me now. Do you need a minute? 'Cause I don't wanna rush you." He was viewing her through his hiking spyglass, and Courtney's rage and anger was back. She started running once more. "All right, we'll rush." She kept running and hid behind a wide tree. To make matters worse, Richard wasn't too far behind. She heard rustling, and thinking it was Richard, she picked up a thick branch and swung it. However, it wasn't Richard who she almost hit; it was Chase.

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Do I know you?"

"Everything's going to be all right."

"Now that…you're here."

"Stay close. I'm going to get you out—" Richard spotted the two and shot Chase with one of his arrows. The arrow hit his side. "FUCK!!! START WALKING, NOW!" Courtney helped the now limping Chase in walking away from that spot. "AGH!!"

"We need to stop walking."

"No."

"You got shot with a fucking arrow. If we keep moving, we're going to die."

"If Robin Hood catches up with us, we're both going to die." Courtney then looked at Chase one more time questioningly.

"How do I know you?"

"We met a while back."

"I feel like I can trust you, I just—I don't remember…"

"You okay?"

"There was something in the water. Richard put something in my water…"

"Poison?"

"He said it wouldn't kill me, but I've been seeing things."

"Go on."

"A girl that looks just like me, but isn't, dead bodies in a shower and—and a man standing over me with a bloody knife, but I can't see his face—I don't think he has one! You're here, right? This is real?"

"Yeah, I'm here, and yeah, this is real." Chase groaned in pain from the arrow in his side.

"He's going to kill us. He's going to find us and kill us. And he's—"

"Hey, hey. Everything's going to be all right." Courtney looked around the woods and started shaking her head.

"No it isn't."

"Did you hear what I said? Everything's going to be—"

"Everything's NOT going to be all right. You don't live just because you deserve to; you have to prove it. You have to put your shoulder to the wheel!" Courtney did what Richard did when he taught her about it: left hand to the right shoulder.

"Speak English. I'm kinda bleeding to death here."

"He's not going to stop—unless he's dead."

"You can't go after this guy. You don't have the right imprint. You don't have the right training."

"I'm a fast learner."

"Jenny—" Chase used her other name she had been given for the Outing.

"Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

"With my life." He handed her the ranger's gun, silencer still on it. "You know how to use this?" Courtney cocked the gun.

"Four brothers, none of them Democrats. You should keep this. If Richard finds you, he'll—" Chase pulled out his own silver revolver.

"You didn't think I'd give you my only gun, did you?"

"Oh my God, there he is. Get out of here. I'll handle him myself." Chase ran away, blood dripping from his side. Courtney spotted Richard getting ready his bow to shoot behind a tree, only to find that no one was there. "Didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" She contacted Richard through the walkie-talkie.

"I'd be disappointed if it was. How's your buddy holding up? He's losing an awful lot of blood."

"Not as much as you're about to."

"What are you going to do, throw rocks at me or something?"

"No. I'm going to shoot you with the gun my buddy gave me. You're playing my game now. Toss the bow and get down on your knees before I blow your fucking brains out."

"My dad would've really liked you. I'm still going to kill you, and—" Courtney took the opportunity to fire two warning shots, one of them hitting his arm. He then spotted her running, but couldn't get a solid shot. He looked down at his bleeding arm. "Want to play it that way? Let's rumble." He started running in her direction. Meanwhile, she was still running, but then she started seeing herself again. This self looked as though she had just finished crying.

"I-I'm okay…just okay…"

"Hey baby, little piece of advice: if you don't want the big bad wolf to find you, you should really turn off your walkie." Richard responded over the walkie-talkie. She turned it off, but when she looked, her former self was gone. But Richard was drawing his arrow, and she heard him. She turned around, gun cocked and pointed at him. "Is this the best date ever or what?"

"Put it down, or I put you down."

"Look at you! You can barely stand up. Probably wouldn't be able to hit me even if you did pull the trigger." She put her second hand over the gun to steady her aim.

"You really want to find out?"

"I admit, I'm curious. Concerned, but curious. Then again, you shoot me, and you get an arrow in that pretty little chest."

"How's that pretty little arm holding up? Maybe I'm not the one that's gonna miss."

"Tell you what: why don't we ease up and call it a draw?"

"You'll let me go?"

"Sure. No harm no foul."

"You poisoned me and shot at me with arrows!"

"Okay, maybe a little bit of harm. Look, how about this: on the count of three, we both back off."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…" The weapons were almost down, and suspecting the worst in each other, they shot at each other. Courtney's bullet shot Richard's bow out of his hands, and Richard's arrow shot Courtney's gun out of her hands. It was now hand-to-hand contact, and at first, the fight was in Courtney's favor. She had Richard pinned to the ground and was punching his head like there was no tomorrow. Then he became the favored one because he managed to get a punch to her face. She flipped over onto the ground, and as she tried crawling away, he grabbed her leg and flung her face up and started choking her on the ground. As hard as she tried, she couldn't get out of Richard's stranglehold, and he started laughing maniacally. Then she looked off to the side, and saw three copies of herself.

"I'm going to win! Just wait and see!" A third self yelled, but then looked down to the ground. Courtney then saw one of Richard's arrows, picked it up, and gave him a hard jab to his neck. He fell to the ground and started crawling to a fallen tree trunk to sit on. She breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Richard was choking, blood pouring out of his wound.

"That actually hurt!"

"Good!" She was now standing over him, watching him die.

"You said you were going to kill me. Nice follow-through." He coughed. "He was right about you. You really are special." There was a profuse amount of blood now pouring out of his mouth and neck wound.

"What are you talking about?"

"Shoulder to the wheel baby. Shoulder to the wheel…" He did the shoulder to the wheel symbol one more time before he breathed his last breath. He was now just like a rag doll propped against a wall, except there was still blood trickling out of his mouth and neck wound. She left the body to join Chase, who was now propped against a tree, still alive. She sat next to him, near tears. She had killed Richard, a deed she wasn't too proud of in retrospect. But there were helicopters in the air, and out of the trees, a SWAT team with Harold as their leader came running in.

"To my right, go! To my left, go!" He issued commands. "Let's get you two out of here." One of the helicopters landed in the clearing, and it took Chase and Courtney back to the complex. Chase was taken to the infirmary within the complex to have his wound examined, and Courtney was taken to Cody to have her imprint deleted. However, by the time Courtney's Treatment was complete, Chase was already there waiting for her, dressed in a regular suit once more.

"Did I fall asleep?" She asked Chase. He walked to her and held her hand, which was still a little bloody and beat-up from her Outing.

"Only for a short while."

"Shall I go?"

"By all means…" And with that, she left the lab.

* * *

"The background check was supposed to prevent this sort of thing from happening Harold!" Heather slammed her hand on her desk. "How is it that you missed the fact that Dowel was a complete psychopath?! TELL ME!!!"

"Because Richard Dowel doesn't exist. NOTHING in his background was real. His entire background, from birth, to college, even his referral here was all fabricated. I've never seen anything this intricate." Heather's mouth was wide open, but it was quickly closed.

"What about the man that Chase subdued in the van? Have you interrogated him yet?"

"He was dead when we got there, BUT not from his run-in with Chase."

* * *

Chase and Beth were examining the ranger's body, scarred with many, many cuts.

"That's not the way I left him!" Chase exclaimed.

"Your punches were painful, but non-fatal. You avoided the major arteries." Beth explained.

"That was the point. What about these other wounds?"

"Caused by a single non-serrated blade, approximately 10 centimeters in length. The lacerations are precise, almost surgical." When Chase looked at the body again, he saw Monty Rowan's body.

"I've seen this before. Tyler." Beth's eyes widened.

"That's impossible."

"Isn't that what we do here? The impossible?"

"Tyler is dead. After he—after what he did, they tracked him down and put a bullet in his brain."

"And they'd NEVER lie to us about something like that, WOULD THEY? Tyler could've killed Courtney when he escaped, but he didn't. A wake of bodies, but he left her alive. Now, someone hires some nut job to hunt her down in the woods…maybe it was Tyler, maybe not. Either way, it all leads back to Courtney." _She lied to me. Heather lied to me._ Beth thought over and over in her head.

* * *

Courtney was walking down the stairs. The scars from her Outing were still visible, and she was on her way to swim in the pool when she almost ran into Harold.

"Sorry." She was about to bypass him when he stopped her.

"Are you?"

"Am I?"

"Sorry. Are you REALLY sorry? A lot of people seem to end up dead around you. How does it make you feel? Oh, that's right. You don't, unless we tell you how and what and when—"

"I'm going to swim in the pool." She bypassed him and started walking away.

"If it were up to me, I'd put you in the attic…or the ground." He had always hated the Mankins, being so idyllic all the time, especially Courtney, but that was partly fueled by the fact that she never forgave him for getting her unfairly kicked off back in TDI. And he gave up trying to search for her forgiveness, and it turned into all-out anger against her. She turned around, eyebrows somewhat furrowed in anger. He didn't notice. "Yeah, like talking to you is going to make a difference. Yeah, there's nobody in there." He started walking back up the stairs. While his back was turned, she suddenly did something: the shoulder to the wheel symbol. She somehow kept that memory from her Outing, somehow._ We'll see about that…Harold._

* * *

**A/N: **Holy hell! She remembers him now! And by the way, this is implying that she now remembers EVERYTHING she did in the Twilight Mall before she became Jenny. Trivia time!

Originally, there was supposed to be a sex scene (according to the show), but I'm not about to boost this up to M.

Courtney is OOC due to her different personality. That's what an imprint is--a different personality.

Couples so far: DuncanxCourtney, GeoffxBridgette, GwenxTrent, KatiexNoah, SadiexDJ, CodyxBeth, more to come

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "The Kill"-Thirty Seconds to Mars, "Vertigo"-U2

So what's Courtney's next Outing? What about the other Mankins? What about Geoff and Co.? And Chris? And Gwen, Trent, and Leshawna? Will Heather learn to love? Is Harold falling in love (I just wanted to throw that out there)? Will DJ and Sadie realize their love? Will couples reunite, be made, stay the same, or crash and burn? Hey, I don't know the answer to everything! So review, and these questions might be answered!

* * *


	8. Sing, Dance, and Be Merry!

**A/N: **Another chapter, and another episode split into two parts. It keeps getting better--and longer. Yeah, I was in a rut all day, and I couldn't wrap my head around a certain little nuance in Dollhouse. Not saying though, just because I don't feel like it. If you're keeping track of the actual TV series, did you find this episode confusing, because I sure as hell did! I was like, WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT THE FUCK?! HOLY CRAP! Yeah, but it comes with the territory. I guess the new eps are going to be even more confusing. Well, enjoy this for now. So review when you're done, disclaimer is in the first chapter, and away we go!

PS: Sorry! Almost forgot to type it in: I published a new fic for Dollhouse if you want to check it out. I've reached 100 hits in two days if it makes you feel any better. Not that it would, just...if you have anything to say, please say it in a review. I have a bunch of hits, but no one is typing what they think! So please, find it in your heart to review--or not, if you're not interested, I really wouldn't know.

* * *

In Los Angeles, in the El Capitan theater (which had changed over the past eight years; it now had a section for small concerts, not just movies), famous singing star Shania Gold was wearing a metallic silver colored bra top and a silver colored wrap that just barely covered her butt, but it jangled when she walked—or in this case, danced. She was also wearing suede boots that went up to the middle of her calf. Today was kick-starting her US tour, but they changed the choreography to better fit the small stage in the theater. One of the backup singers was standing near a section where there were flames going off, and in the middle of one of Shania's songs, the backup singer caught on fire. She wasn't injured, but it was enough to scare her shitless.

"I QUIT SHANIA! I QUIT!" She screamed after the show, and then left to a dance studio to get her things and return to her normal life as a struggling singer. Shania just stood there, emotionless, and someone might've interpreted it as Shania being her diva self and not caring who quit or who was fired. But one dancer didn't interpret it as such: Leshawna Kasine, leader of her own group of dancers who danced with Shania onstage. She left to Shania's agent, Mr. Bernie Katz.

"Yo Katz, I think something's up. This is the 3rd attempt on her life. Wasn't Shania supposed to be standing where that backup singer caught on fire?"

"Yes, I believe so. I'll check up on Shania, see how she's feeling."

"Thanks Mr. Katz." Leshawna left the English accented agent. He knew what he had to do. The next morning, at 6 AM, Bernie left to his red Corvette and started driving—to Las Vegas. He had to see an old friend and ask a favor of her.

* * *

In the Twilight Mall, at around 8 AM, Courtney and Bridgette had decided to run on the treadmills to start their day. Today, Courtney had decided to push herself to her limits. After getting flashbacks about how much she hated Harold, her anger caused her not stress, but better physical fitness. But Bridgette decided not to push herself today. She got off the treadmill and took the towel situated on a table and started wiping the sweat off of her. However, the run had made Bridgette tired and dizzy, and first, it was a little stumble. Courtney noticed and got off her treadmill and took her towel. Then, Bridgette lost her balance completely and started to collapse, but just before Bridgette suffered any brain damage, Courtney caught her.

"S-sorry. I-I was dizzy." Bridgette put a hand to her head to stop the world from turning every which way.

"I didn't want you to get hurt. You're my friend." Courtney smiled and patted some sweat off her forehead using her own towel.

"Friends help each other out, right?" Bridgette asked Courtney. Courtney smiled because it had been something that she had taught Bridgette in an attempt to re-jog her memory.

"Yes. Yes they do." And with that, both girls left the fitness area to take a long shower.

Meanwhile, in Beth's office space, she was just about finished wrapping the day's bandage around Chase's abdomen. It was to prevent any infection from getting into the wound the broad head arrow had created from the last Outing.

"You shouldn't have taken the arrow out. You could've bled to death. You should know that a broad head arrow does more damage coming out than in." Beth explained while she went to put the roll of gauze away.

"I'll remember that the next time I'm being bow-hunted." Chase attempted to chuckle, but there was pain in his abdomen.

"You're healing nicely."

"So I'm Certified, right?" After every severe injury, a Clerk had to be cleared by Beth if they could go back to their Mankin and watch over them. Beth, however, had other plans.

"I really recommend you take a few more days off Chase, just to make sure you don't tear the wound open…or worse."

"I'll be fine. Really, if you don't Certify me and Courtney gets sent out again, she could end up with some stranger as her Clerk. Do you want that?"

"We're all strangers to them. We think we know them, and they think they know us, but they really don't, and neither do we."

"Courtney's my responsibility, and we both know there's someone out there who wants her dead." Chase got up and started putting on and re-buttoning his blue shirt. "And upstairs says it can't be Tyler." Chase knew damn well that it could be Tyler and that Harold and Heather were trying to hide something from the staff. Or not, Chase had been wrong before.

"You're Certified." Beth smiled weakly and signed off on the clipboard.

"Thanks."

"But please…watch yourself. Someone else is watching."

"Someone always is."

* * *

"Bernie Katz. Fancy seeing you here." Heather threw her voice so she sounded posh and British as she entered her office. Today, she was wearing a royal purple V-neck short sleeved knee length dress with splashes of white flowers on it. Bernie was already waiting for her, for he had a request to make to her.

"Come on Heather, drop the accent."

"Then drop yours too, and that dreadful name."

"Fine." Bernie's accent was gone now.

"So Joseph, my wonderful cousin, what brings you all the way to Vegas?"

"First things first: tone down the sun in here. I'm burning up." He winked at her.

"God Joe, I know you were the agent to the Jonas Brothers for a time, but you don't have to say their lyrics all of the time. They're has-beens anyway." But Heather turned down the lights nevertheless. "TD is still rubbing off on me; the sunlight was ever common in the show. So what brings you here?"

"My new client, Shania Gold, is kick-starting her US tour."

"That Rihanna wannabee?" Joe furrowed his eyebrows.

"She's different from that other has-been. But she's started at the El Capitan Theater."

"Not the Hollywood Bowl? I thought you'd put her there first."

"No, no, that's for the summers. We put her in El Capitan just to remind everyone she can sing the damn songs. We get more people lining up to buy tickets to see her on tour that way." Joe poured himself some brandy that was next to the orchids on Heather's bureau.

"Hmph. You know you can always go to our summer home in Malibu. To unwind and relax." Heather took a seat on the black leather couch and looked at her nails, examining them.

"Fuck, I'll just say it: someone's trying to kill Shania. And it's not me, so don't try to fire some sort of insult my way." Joe wandered to the opposite couch and took a seat, brandy in hand. Heather's smug smile was long gone however; she was now in business mode.

"Kill her?"

"Didn't you hear about the accident at the theater? First concert of the tour and one of our backup singers quits. I wouldn't blame her; she got caught on fire from the pyro effects."

"So it's an accident?"

"Not quite. We changed the choreography for that concert due to the space; Shania was supposed to be standing where the girl caught on fire."

"Has it happened before?"

"There was one time, in New York City; some lighting almost fell on her head. And there was one other, and now this."

"How's Shania taking all of this?" Heather spotted a diorama on the table and picked it up. It was filled with head shots of Shania.

"I don't know. She's been distant, emotionless…I don't know. She didn't even try to stop our backup singer from leaving." Joe dug into a suitcase. "Here, this is some of her fan mail. She's been getting it since she could sing, but this…"

"Is crazy. All from the same guy…times change, but the fans don't. Well, as far as I can see, you've come to ask for a Mankin, someone to protect her, not a bodyguard."

"Exactly! She hates bodyguards anyway. They "cramp her style" or some other crap about not being able to breathe." Joe took a sip from his cup of brandy. "This Mankin needs to be someone Shania likes, trusts, and will always protect Shania without knowing she's supposed to. I know you can do it, and I have the money."

"But there's risk."

"Yup; she has to be willing to take a bullet for Shania, and I know you can do that too."

"We don't want it to come to that. However, we need a credible reason for her to be in Shania's life."

"We do need a backup singer. You can make her sing beautifully, right?"

"Yes, don't worry. In fact, I won't even charge you. We're all in the family."

"Oh, thanks Heather. You have no idea how grateful I am to you."

"So now you're grateful, and after all of those pranks you pulled on me so many years ago."

"And with your brother too. Good times, good times." Joe stood up and brushed off his suit. "TD didn't change you a bit cousin."

"Goodbye Joseph."

"Seems you can't find love either. You haven't been able to since TD you know." Joe had his English accent back, and he was starting to get back into his Bernie Katz persona.

"I said goodbye."

"Fine, fine." And Joe left Heather with those last words, which burned Heather at her very core. She left to her desk and called Harold.

"Harold, get Chase in here." She hung up, took a deep breath, and then started to call Cody. "Cody, have Imprint #6702 ready for Courtney immediately."

"You wanted to see me—again, Heather?" Chase smirked, concealing the pain from the arrow.

"Yes. You know about singing star Shania Gold?"

"Yeah. Shallow girl if you ask me."

"Well, we're having Courtney protect her. She's going to be a backup singer."

"You'll be keeping track of her vitals, as usual, but you'll be getting eyes and ears this time, okay?" Chase sighed and rolled his eyes at Harold's command.

"Got it. And I'll go; Courtney's probably already gone by now." Chase left the office on his own accord.

"At least he knows what to do now." Harold then left the office, leaving Heather by herself. She sat on her swivel chair and looked out to the other skyscrapers of Las Vegas. Her thoughts were interrupted by another call.

"Yes?"

"Heather-feather! It's Bernie again!"

"Joe, what do you want?"

"Could I get one more Mankin to watch over her? Not as a backup singer, but as a fan girl. We put up a video contest a while back, and we'll have her be the winner."

"You want her there as backup?"

"Exactly! Just as smart as ever Heather-feather!"

"Shut up you idiot. I'll do it, but this one will cost you."

"I'll wire the money over to your personal bank account, no worries. And, it'll include a little bit more, just for old times' sake."

"Fine."

"Bye Heather-feather! I'll keep you posted!"

"We'll be posted as it is, just make sure Courtney becomes friends with Shania."

"Alright, you're boss Heather—"

"Don't even dare say what you're going to say next."

"Bye." Heather slammed the phone onto the receiver.

"Fucking bastard."

* * *

Courtney sang Shania's requested song perfectly. Shania even joined in and sang harmony, with a little bit of prodding from Joe.

"Get her working." And Shania left.

"Wait, I got the part?" Courtney asked the small audience. Joe came up to her.

"Yes. You got the part."

"Oh my God, I got the part! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Courtney jumped up and down with joy.

"WHY ISN'T SHE WORKING?!" Shania screamed from outside of the dance studio.

"That's Shania for you." Joe smiled.

"You will not be disappointed!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the Twilight Mall, Cody was checking on an Imprint's brain functions when Beth walked in, very, very upset, purple skirt, black shirt, and white lab coat flowing in the self-generated wind.

"You sent Courtney out on a high risk Outing?" Cody stopped working at his computer and turned in his swivel chair to face Beth. He never showed his love for her, but showed outright cynicism to her, like Noah from his teenage years.

"Beth, so good of you to annoy me!"

"I had her flagged for romantic or altruistic Outings only. Does anybody read these?" She waved a blue folder in Cody's face.

"You know, her last romantic Outing turned out to be extremely high risk, maybe her Outing with Shania will turn romantic." Cody laughed at his own joke.

"She's a bodyguard!"

"She's a singer." Cody typed up a few things on his computer. "Okay, persona and parameter. Her persona is a struggling singer who just got her first break; whoo hoo. Her parameter: she must protect Shania, which she will do instinctively and unconsciously at all times." Cody got up from his seat and walked over to the imprint machine. Beth followed.

"She doesn't even know she's a bodyguard? And this makes what better?"

"What do you want, someone who's paid to protect you or someone who wants to protect you? Besides, they were orders from Heather, not me. But this is the beauty of what we do."

"And what about Chase? He's not up to any serious physical threats."

"What are you, buddies now? Oh God, of course you are! You both disapprove of everything! You're going to get married and have scowling babies!" Cody put an Imprint disk into the chair.

"Don't be an idiot." Beth kept her cool, anger ever escalating.

"Stop with the stress; we're sending in backup anyway. Again, orders from Heather." And at that point, Bridgette walked in, along with her Clerk, Russell Benton. "Please, have a seat Bridgette."

* * *

Shania was instructing Leshawna's dance crew on how to dance onstage for the next show. _Damn girl's gonna get a fist in her mouth if she doesn't fucking shut up!_ Leshawna fired off another long string of curses in her head while dancing. In the back of her mind however, she was wondering what Courtney was doing here, and under a different name too.

"Janis, softer on your consonants." The singing director advised Courtney, whose name was now Janis Kusmitch. Courtney was dressed in her bra while a seamstress was hemming some jeans Courtney was wearing.

"I haven't seen all of the lyrics yet, so I'm flying blind." Courtney let out a soft giggle. The singing director rolled his eyes.

"CAN WE GET THE NEW GIRL A LYRIC BOOK?! NOW?!?!?!" He left to find an assistant who'd give him a lyric book.

"They're not very good lyrics." One of the backup singers, an African-American woman by the name of Raina informed Courtney.

"Oh, well, that's okay." Courtney shifted a little.

"Try not to move please." The seamstress informed Courtney.

"Sorry."

"So, is this your first big tour?" Raina asked Courtney.

"Big one? Yes. I've been working a lot, but nothing like Shania Gold. This is the dream gig." Courtney then noticed a few bodyguards talking to each other. "So what's with all of the muscle?"

"You heard about that "accident", right?" Raina asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, first there were three bodyguards, now there's eight, and a whole security staff." The other backup singer, Yasmin, informed Courtney instead of Raina.

"And they don't bring in her fan mail anymore. From what I heard, it goes straight to the police." Raina informed Courtney.

"What about Shania? Diva, or DIIIIVA?"

"Depends on the day. She's the real deal, don't get me wrong. But—"

"All right ladies, and here you go Janis." The singing director handed Courtney a thick packet of papers with the lyrics to all of Shania's songs. The three girls started to exercise their vocal cords, and then the singing director mysteriously left the girls on the orders of Joe. Joe left, and that left the three girls that had stopped practicing. The seamstress got up, done with hemming the jeans.

"All right, now bra off please." Yasmin and Raina left Courtney alone.

"What? Isn't there a bathroom or someplace where I can change?" Courtney looked around nervously.

"Honey, you'll be going through three quick changes during the concert; they're all going to see your stuff sooner or later." Courtney heaved a sigh, then took off her bra and quickly changed into the skimpy top that only wrapped around her breasts. _Is it always this crazy?_

"OKAY, STOP! STOP!!! Who's eating a mint? SOMEBODY'S EATING A MINT!!!" Shania screamed to her dance crew.

"HEY! NO ONE TALKS TO MY DANCE CREW LIKE THAT EXCEPT FOR ME!" Leshawna yelled back.

"OH REALLY?!"

"REALLY!"

"You know what?! I can't deal with this. I-I can't—"

"Okay Shania, I think it's time to go now." He calmed down Shania. "Don't upset my client."

"OH, I DID NOT JUST HEAR YOU SAY THAT! GET BACK HERE YOU SCRAWNY WHITE BOY!!!" The other members of Leshawna's dance crew held her back from punching Joe's lights out. But as Leshawna was fighting to get out of her crew's grasps and slap Joe and Shania, she saw Courtney leave with them. _Courtney. What the hell is she doing here, and under a false name too? And she was never a good singer._ In Total Drama, the Musical, Courtney wasn't necessarily the greatest singer in the world. So now that Courtney sounded wonderful, this aroused suspicion in Leshawna. She stopped fighting and went to the food table to get some water.

* * *

"Hey Zeke, I can't come to Geoff's place tonight." DJ was in his small cubicle, reclining in the swivel chair.

"DJ, why are you telling me? Why not tell Geoff?"

"Because I'm going out on other business, and I don't want Geoff to worry about me."

"I'm worried about you."

"Yeah, but I trust you a little bit more than Geoff, at least, for now. Tell Geoff that I had to visit some relatives in the area, okay? And please, don't let them worry about me. I'll be fine."

"But—"

"Bye Zeke." DJ hung up. He twirled a small business card in his hands. He could remember it now, how the card came into his possession. It was, after all, only yesterday.

* * *

_DJ stepped back into his hotel suite after another long day in his small cubicle. He sighed and dragged his feet over to his bed. However, when he was taking off his shoes, he found a card stuck to the bottom of his right shoe. Thankfully, he could read the message on the card because he had stepped on the back side and not the front._

_Agent Jones, meet me at Club Chloraine, 8 PM on the balcony overlooking the city. I have some important news for you. –Nicolai Zubaczec_

_DJ carefully removed the business card from his shoe and examined it. It looked legitimate enough, but it was around the same time as when he was supposed to meet Geoff and everyone else. DJ couldn't bring himself to call Geoff just yet, so DJ fell asleep, still in his suit._

* * *

DJ glanced at his fake Rolex watch. 4 PM. _Crap, only a few more hours to go._

DJ drove up to a tall, imposing building. He could hear the music blaring from all the way up on the top floor. So he walked in, snuck past the guards, and walked all the way to the balcony, past all of the partygoers, some playing in the pool, others at the bar, others talking and lounging or dancing. Then he saw Nicolai. He didn't stand next to him however; instead, he went to another side of the balcony and looked out over LA.

"Nice view."

"Yeah. Look at all of the pretty lights, the people look like ants, I can see my house from here—ARE YOU TRYING TO GET ME FUCKING KILLED?" Nicolai spoke with a thick Russian accent.

"I wasn't followed, if it makes you feel any better."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you cannot be seen snooping around my family or talking to me. If the Zubaczecs see us together, we'll both fucking die! And I'm going to be tortured by them first!" The two men were now face to face. "Besides, they know nothing."

"They traffic girls."

"Maybe, maybe not, but I know they don't brainwash them!"

"I thought you had some important news for me."

"Yeah, yeah, I do. I did what you asked; started throwing Twilight Mall around them, and they looked at me like I was a lunatic from the fucking Chernobyl blast!" Nicolai started wandering to a chaise.

"Maybe you're too small time." DJ kept looking at the lit LA skyline.

"It's a myth, OKAY?!?! It's an urban legend! Young people having their personalities replaced so they can be the perfect date?! It's alligators in the sewers!"

"I've heard it all before."

"I'm a dead end, okay? I have no leads, nothing."

"I don't think so."

"Oh, no. No, no, no. I know what you've done. You might not know me, but I've checked you up plenty Agent Jones. Trespassing, fights, illegal dealings, you're just as worse as our family. So the Bureau gives you the one job you can't blow because it doesn't exist!"

"The technology exists."

"So somebody made a monkey tango. Doesn't mean it's been tried on humans."

"It does."

"How do you know that, huh?" DJ looked out over the skyline once more.

"You split an atom, you make a bomb. Anything new, first things first: destroy, manipulate, control…its human nature."

"Yeah, people are crap. Look, I don't think there's a Twilight Mall. If I get different, I'll give you word. I wish there was though." Nicolai started to leave to go back to the party.

"Why?"

"So I can sign up. New start, wipe all of the terrible burdens away, no? Yes, when I start over, I want to be George fucking Clooney." And Nicolai left DJ to ponder about their conversation.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the backstage of the El Capitan Theater, Courtney noticed that there were no guards at the freight elevator.

"Mr. Katz?" She tapped Joe's shoulder, and he turned around to face Courtney. "I was just walking off my nerves and I noticed that there was no security by the freight elevator, and I was thinking that someone could get in there, say, a homicidal fan."

"Good eyes Janis."

* * *

"Bridgette should come into play in a minute." Cody instructed Chase. Chase was in the same van watching over Courtney's vitals.

"I'm glad they're double tracking this. Who's Bridgette's Clerk?"

"Russell Benton. You won't like this guy."

"Duly noted." _Fifteen minutes to curtain._ It was what Courtney was hearing at that moment. "Courtney's on in fifteen. Okay, okay…"

"Oh my God, are you nervous? Opening night jitters? Your little girl out there on the big stage?"

"On the stage where the last little girl caught fire."

"Point taken."

"Her singing's not a problem, right? I mean, she's a good singer, I think she's a good singer, she wouldn't freeze up onstage—"

"Chase, dude, chill. She'll be just fine. So, what's the deal with Shania? You've heard her through Courtney; what's she like?"

"Do you like shallow, vapid, diva-like monsters?"

"Really? She seemed so earthy and normal with Katie Couric." _And hot… _"You can't trust people these days." Cody ended the call as he took out an Imprint disk. _You think you know someone…_The seat was starting to rise, and on it was a Mankin who looked just like Nicolai Zubaczec. "Nick, how are you feeling?"

"Did I fall asleep?"

* * *

At the entrance to the theater, people were filing in, including a red headed lanky kid who was reminiscent of Harold coming in with crutches. He passed through the security guards okay, and he started to make a bee-line for a secret door.

* * *

Backstage, Shania, Yasmin, Raina, and Courtney were just about to go onstage.

"Deep breaths in and out. Prevents pre-show barfing. The biz taught me that when I was twelve." Shania advised Courtney, who was now wearing a snakeskin red mini skirt, fishnet leggings, knee high black leather stiletto boots, and a black spaghetti strap top.

"Shania! This is Brianna, winner of the number one fan contest! She flew in all the way from British Columbia!" Joe gestured to Bridgette, who was now clad in a blue knit dress, black flats, and had her hair curled.

"Oh, hey sweetie. I'd love to hang with you, but I have a show to do."

"Of course! Oh my God, oh my God, it's SHANIA!!!" Bridgette squealed and jumped up and down with glee.

"Are fans like that? Do they get to you?" Courtney whispered to Shania while going up to the stage.

"Comes with the territory." Shania got into position, and as did Courtney. Bridgette was backstage watching the performance alongside Joe. But the nerdy, lanky man with crutches entered in a separate room and climbed up a ladder. On the landing, he started taking apart his crutches. During Shania's performance of her hit song "Superstar", the nerdy man pieced together a sniper rifle (the parts were hidden in the crutches). About a minute later, he was done piecing the rifle together and left the room walking with his crutches. His plan was already set in motion.

* * *

"Where's DJ?" Geoff asked Ezekiel, who had just arrived. He was the last out of Duncan, Izzy, Owen, Sadie, and Noah to arrive at Geoff's house.

"He couldn't make it. Had to visit some relatives." Noah quirked an eyebrow, but Geoff bought the lie.

"Okay, I guess. So, we all know why we're here, right?"

"Cut the crap Geoff. Courtney's been kidnapped, Bridgette's gone, and come to think of it, I haven't heard from too many of our TD buddies in years." Duncan argued.

"DJ did tell me that he, Katie, and Sadie went to university in New York, but Katie was kidnapped one night a few years back." Ezekiel commented.

"Don't remind me." Sadie meekly responded.

"News doesn't travel fast among us, but I know that Gwen and Trent kept in touch with everybody." Izzy added. The others nodded in response.

"Aren't Gwen and Trent on a world tour?" Owen asked Izzy.

"Yeah. Trent's music is really good."

"Back on topic: who the fuck wants us dead?" There was a banging on the door after Duncan asked his question. Geoff opened the door, only to find a teary eyed woman with teal streaks in her hair standing at the door.

"GWEN?!" Sadie, Noah, Duncan, and Ezekiel crowded around Geoff to see their long-time TD friend. Gwen was obviously shocked, but it didn't show, for what she said next started to bring her to tears.

"Tr-Tr-Trent's gone." Duncan was the first to react to this news.

"Come on Gwen." He led her into the home, and they all sat on the couches around a glass top coffee table.

"Trent's gone, Courtney's gone, Bridgette's gone, Katie's gone, who else has been kidnapped?" Ezekiel asked out loud.

"He was supposed to start performing in a few days, after Shania left LA. But now he's gone. What the hell am I going to do?!" Gwen yelled in frustration.

"Gwen, we have reason to believe that someone is out to get all of us." Noah explained calmly to Gwen. He then started to tell the story of how they found Courtney's cloned body, all of the events that had started happening, with input from Duncan, Geoff, Ezekiel, Izzy, and Owen. Sadie was still a little shaken by her memory of Katie and that DJ was gone. _DJ, where are you?_

* * *

The next morning, DJ was at work, talking on his cell phone, an LG Shine (ancient compared to the phones on the market), with Nicolai, who was in La Brea Park, talking through a dilapidated pay phone, one of the last around.

"Agent Jones, I may have something for you after all. It used to be called the Devonshire Hotel, big noise back when Hollywood still had its dignity."

"That's nice, what am I looking for?"

"A basement. If people were held, it was probably down there. Hey, I'm still getting the sixth sense that this is a dead lead."

"Why call?"

"Because you pay very nicely. Watch your back." Nicolai hung up and started walking as far away from the pay phone as possible. DJ got up from his seat and left to find the Devonshire Hotel.

DJ kicked in a fence leading to the basement of the dilapidated hotel. With his small flashlight, phone in his pants pocket, and 9 mm gun concealed on him, he wandered in, looking for any evidence or anyone in sight. The basement was dark despite it being early noon and the sun was shining outside, so the flashlight helped greatly. As DJ went to open a window, three men, one carrying a 2x4, approached him, and the man with the 2x4 hit DJ's side, sending DJ barreling to the ground.

"You want to mess with the Zubaczecs?" The guy with the 2x4 asked. DJ noted the thick Russian accent.

"No, not really." The guy swung again, and DJ managed to successfully dodge it, then used it to jab the man in the stomach. After knocking out another guy, one of them shot a bullet into DJ's side, causing him to collapse to the ground.

"_Какой идиот, чтобы прибыть сюда один_." The man who shot DJ spoke. Translated, the man said, _what an idiot to come here alone. _He switched to English. "Do you know who we are? We are the last faces you'll see." DJ got up, despite the bullet wound, and twisted the gun out of the man's hand, causing a few shots to go off, but nothing serious, because they were fired into the ground. A few more of the men came to and started to go at him. One of them shot DJ repeatedly, but DJ was using another body as a shield at the time. After one more guy was knocked out, DJ tried to extract a confession out of one of the conscious men.

"What do you know about the Twilight Mall?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" DJ punched his head, knocking him out. _No one ever fucking does._ DJ staggered a bit, then fell to the ground. As he did this, he just barely managed to call 911 to be taken to the hospital.

* * *

At around 5 PM, Shania and Courtney were going to the VIP section of a club with paparazzi camera light flashing everywhere. Shania was wearing a red tube dress and Courtney was wearing a hot pink cocktail dress. Courtney was irked by all of the blinding light and the gasping people.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"This is my party!"

"So you know all of these people?"

"Girl, relax. We're surrounded." _Yeah right._ Both girls were now in the VIP area, in their own separate area, and Bridgette was there waiting for Shania. "What in the hell is this skank doing at my table? I told you I—"

"Shania!" Joe came up to the now seething pop star. "You remember Brianna, the winner of the online video contest. She's your number one fan."

"Why do you always try to hurt me?"

"Be a saint darling." And Joe left to talk to his own friends. Shania looked down, and then plastered her most sincere grin on her face.

"Hey. You have no idea how much it means to me that you're here tonight." Bridgette looked like she was about to faint.

"Oh, my God, I—"

"Have a seat." The three girls, Shania, Bridgette, and Courtney sat down. A server came with two champagnes, one for Shania and one for Courtney. Bridgette already had her drink in her hand.

"I just have to say that you are so beautiful and talented, and you saved my life. I had your first CD before any of my friends, and I told them—"

"Okay, slow down. Listen, sweetie, you can just hang. So just turn off fan mode and turn on…what was your name again?" Bridgette was slightly taken aback by this. Her real personality, before she was mind wiped, was starting to shine through.

"Brianna…"

"Turn on Brianna mode."

"Brianna mode. Okay…"

"What are you drinking?"

"Oh, it's a Shirley Temple, they're so good, and I want to be able to enjoy every moment here."

"Well, you're making us feel like alcoholics, so why don't you have some champagne?"

"I'm not really a drinker, but I guess just this once will be okay. I've had champagne before, so yeah." Shania called another server with a champagne glass in her hand, and this server gave the glass to Bridgette.

"Unbelievable. Do people just do what you tell them to?" Courtney asked Shania.

"Pretty much."

"Brianna, if Shania wanted you to take off your clothes and run down the street right now, just for kicks, would you do it?"

"With or without my underwear?" Bridgette asked Courtney. Shania exchanged glances with Courtney, and the two started laughing. A guy came up to the three girls, about to take something out of his jacket, when Courtney got up and kicked him away, and he was down on the floor. Spilling out of his jacket was a camera.

"Paparazzi." Courtney sniffed.

"Damn girl, you need to chill." Shania laughed.

"That was so cool. Where did you learn to do that?" Bridgette asked Courtney as security dragged the paparazzo away.

"Oh, a few self-defense classes."

* * *

Concert night, and Russell Benton was almost at the van where Chase was watching over Courtney's vitals, along with searching for who would want to kill Shania by looking up her fan sites. _Fucking fan sites. There's too many…_Russell walked in at this point.

"It took you FORTY minutes to get coffee?" Chase asked Russell.

"You had eyes on. Besides, my girl doesn't come into play unless it's an extreme situation. Whatcha got there?"

"Shania's fan sites. There are HUNDREDS of them all over the place."

"Bunch of crazies."

"That's what I'm looking for. A man had to be on here somewhere."

"Right, you're the ex-cop, investigating somebody else's problem. You just keep an eye out to make sure the girls get the job done."

"Bridgette's new, right?" Russell nodded. "What happened to the previous Mankin?"

"He got the job done."

"Right." Chase sighed and went back to searching through the fan sites. _Hating the guy already. Nice going Cody._

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, hey, hey! So, how did you like it? I'd love to read what you think!

Shania is not Sha-NIA, it's Shuh-NIGH-Uh. Just to clear things up.

Joe is Mr. Katz, Courtney is Janis, and Bridgette is Brianna. Just in case you missed anything.

Nicolai is really a Mankin whose Imrpint isn't deleted at all.

"Chernobyl blast" is talking about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. More info on Wikipedia and Google, but if you've played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, you'll know about this disaster.

Couples so far: DuncanxCourtney, BridgettexGeoff, GwenxTrent, KatiexNoah, SadiexDJ, CodyxBeth, IzzyxOwen, more to come. Oh yes, many more, maybe even a few crack pairings?

No songs in mind today. The songs that were in my mind were for my other fanfic. Whoops, sorry!

Kidnapped list: Katie, Courtney, Bridgette, Trent (Note: these are kidnappings that are confirmed and known by The Company, listed below (excluding DJ for now))

The Company: Geoff, Izzy, Owen, Duncan, Noah, Sadie, Gwen, Ezekiel, DJ

Will DJ live to see tomorrow? What does the red-head have in store for Shania? Will Leshawna recognize Courtney and Bridgette and try to jog their memories? Will Cody profess his love for Beth or continue acting like Noah? Will Chase punch Russell's lights out for being a jerk, maybe even Cody too? Is Heather going to heed her cousin's words and find love? All that and more, NEXT!!! Review please!


	9. Showdown

**A/N: **This is considerably shorter than the last chapter, so no worries! Yeah, things will be explained, more action will happen, a lot of revelations, all that jazz. Nothing much to say, so review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

Courtney walked to room 6, Shania's dressing room, and knocked on the door.

"What?!" Shania yelled from inside.

"It's me!" Shania opened the door.

"Get in here." The two girls started hanging out in the spacious dressing room. One side was filled with pots of white orchids.

"Damn!"

"Oh, aren't they gorgeous? Orchids are the symbol of pure affection."

"Wow. You sure have a lot of them."

"They help me relax." Shania was checking over her makeup at the vanity.

"I could use some of that."

"Have you ever felt so unbelievably alive?!" Shania leaned back in her seat. "This is going to be the best night of my life! I am ready, I am so ready." Courtney wandered over to an ice bucket where a bottle of water was and started drinking some while Shania practiced her singing and dancing.

"Hey, I thought you weren't getting anymore fan mail." Courtney examined a letter on the glass top coffee table. "Whoa, these people think they actually have a relationship with you."

"Like I said, it comes with the territory. My music touches people, so they want to touch me back."

"Shouldn't the cops be getting all of this stuff?"

"Oh, those are old."

"This one isn't. It mentions last night's show. Wait, these are all from the same guy. It's him. The one they're all afraid of. You're communicating with him?!" Courtney was becoming enraged, and fast.

"He's my number one fan. Brianna's a sweet girl, but she's got nothing on him."

"He's not a fan. He's insane!"

"What do you know? YOU'RE A BACKGROUND SINGER! A WANNABEE, A NOTHING!" Shania snatched the papers from Courtney.

"Three minutes." One of the assistants called from outside of the dressing room.

"Showtime. Biggest show ever." Shania left Courtney alone in the dressing room. Courtney was about to leave, but then she noticed a red paper under one of the flower pots. She lifted up the pot, and read the note. _Tonight…_Courtney grew frantic and started flipping over flower pots. She found one more. _Will be your last…_Then one last one. _Goodbye!_ Courtney ran out of the dressing room to Shania as fast as she could.

"SHANIA!!! WAIT!!! Don't do this!"

"This is what I do."

"HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU! I THINK YOU KNOW THAT!"

"You have no idea what it's like."

"You can't go out there!"

"You don't tell me what I can and can't do."

"You want him to shoot you, onstage and tonight! You're crazier than he is!"

"I'm not crazy. I just want to be free." Courtney left Shania and tried to warn anybody about what was going to happen. She then found one of the crew and immediately tried to warn him about the impending doom.

"We have to stop the show. Shania—"

"Janis, get your ass stage left."

"Where's Katz?"

"I'll take you there myself." Courtney stopped him.

"I will smack you." The crewman shrugged and left her, and Courtney ran about backstage trying to find Joe. Meanwhile, the lanky man was piecing his rifle together once more and making sure that everything was ready and got into position, waiting for the perfect time to shoot Shania. Shania herself was introducing Bridgette.

"This is Brianna!" Leshawna handed Bridgette a microphone, but Leshawna started to back away slowly because she knew it was Bridgette she had handed the microphone to.

"What's up Los Angeles?" Bridgette shyly asked and waved to the crowd through a microphone. The crowd went wild for the two women onstage.

Backstage, Courtney finally found Joe. "He's here. I can feel it. I know it."

"Stop the show." He told the head of the security staff.

"Because the background singer said to?"

"Do it."

"There's no way psycho got through security. It's not like he could sneak a knife or a gun in here. Just relax." Courtney couldn't relax, and she resolved to get up onstage and use the light to find the assailant. "Hey, wait—" Courtney kneed him in the stomach. One of the guys went up to stop her, but was stopped by Joe. Meanwhile, Courtney started flashing one of the lights everywhere, looking in the crowd and then—she found him, and he fired two shots.

"SHANIA GET DOWN!" Courtney pushed Shania down just on time so that Shania didn't get hurt. In all of the confusion, Bridgette was pushed with the rest of the crowd, and Courtney and Shania were pushed backstage.

* * *

DJ had been driven around from hospital to hospital for the past eight hours because none of them would take him. All that time, DJ was awake, but couldn't speak at all. Then, one of the emergency responders put PVC in his system, and DJ went into arrest. DJ blacked out after that.

* * *

Meanwhile, Courtney and Shania walked back into room 6, Shania's dressing room. Shania, however, was extremely perturbed by Courtney.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Shania asked Courtney.

"WITH ME?!"

"YOU SHUT DOWN MY SHOW!"

"I SAVED YOUR LIFE!"

"YOU'VE GOT NO UNDERSTANDING OF MY LIFE!"

"Okay, are there any drugs you are NOT on? The guy was about to put a bullet in you, which also ends the show."

"You disappointed all of those people. I was going to give them a show! Now, all they'll say is that I didn't give them a finish." Shania walked to her vanity and sat in the chair there.

"They don't want to see you die."

"Did they grow you in a lab? Do you know anything about people? They love to see me die. Eighty years old, they'd be talking about tonight, how they were there when—"

"Shania, you are not okay. You are having a break down; not a Britney Spears wacky phase; you are truly unwell."

"So he puts me out of my misery."

"What misery?! What have you got to be miserable about?!"

"No. Right, uh…I've got to be happy. I've got to be grateful! I've got to be rebellious, but just enough to give me cred so they know I'm not a factory girl. But I am. I don't exist. I'm not a real person. I'm everybody's fantasy, and God help me if I try not to be. You weren't grown in the lab I was. I've been singing for myself, for when, and for EVERYBODY ELSE! God put this voice in me, and I've got to make it mine. I don't feel it. I don't feel anything, and for a long while too. But I know he's out there. The Reaper, any minute now—boooooom—freedom. There's your rush. There's your joy. I can hear myself. I can—"

"I think you can hear yourself just fine. Maybe you want to listen to someone else. You don't like your life? Change it."

"THEY WON'T LET ME!"

"Then make them let you! You're feeling pain, but all you're doing is spreading it around. God, the last thing I ever thought you'd be was weak." Shania looked at Courtney, fire in her eyes.

"Get out of here. You say anything to Katz, I'll tell every psycho fan I've got where you live and you won't last a day."

"Oh, this gig was supposed to change everything, and now, I think it did!"

"Get your scrawny ass out of my space before I—" Shania started to push Courtney out, but Courtney rammed Shania against a wall.

"You can fire me, but you can't push me out, you fucking bitch. Have fun with your fan." Courtney left the dressing room, and Shania. She was going back to the dance studio to get her things.

* * *

Bridgette decided to be smart and walked to the back entrance, praying that someone was there to let her back in to be with Shania. However, the lanky man jumped out of one of the alleys and bound her, and the two of them were off to the man's house. He was going to film a video for Shania, and Bridgette was going to star.

* * *

"Hey, I came to get my things." Courtney thought she was talking to Raina, but instead, Leshawna turned around.

"Courtney? Is that you?"

"Um, my name is Janis. Janis Kusmitch."

"Girl, I know you're playing. So drop the act. I never knew you could sing so well!"

"Really, whoever you are, I'm not whoever you think I am."

"Hey, are you still together with that punk white boy? Duncan?" Leshawna had lost touch with all of the TD campers, but Duncan's name triggered a memory in Courtney's mind. She now remembered who all of the campers were—except for herself.

"Leshawna…?"

"Oh my God, I thought something had happened to you too. It wasn't a good idea to be seen out with Shania." Yasmin shook Courtney back down to Earth. Courtney immediately ran up the stairs to the second floor where Shania and Joe were watching the lanky red-head point a gun at Bridgette's head.

"You have my number. Call me." And the screen froze.

"Call me?" Joe asked, English accent wavering. Shania turned to look at him, and he slapped her square across the face. Courtney pushed Joe to the wall, and Shania ran away, as far as her legs could go. "Ten years. Ten fucking years, and I've never had to do that to anyone. She wanted this. She wanted all of it. Otherwise I never would've—"

"Getting what you want may not always be the best thing for a person." Courtney simply responded.

"You're supposed to be with her." Joe almost made it seem like a question.

"She fired me."

"Does that make a difference?"

"No. I don't know why, but even after everything that's happened, I still feel that I have to help her." Courtney glanced down at the screen and saw Bridgette, who looked like she had burst into tears numerous times, and left Joe alone, not even realizing that Joe had switched to his actual voice when he started talking to Courtney without Shania with him.

* * *

Heather was overlooking the Las Vegas skyline from her office. Tonight, she was wearing a black button down blazer, a hot pink silk dress shirt, and a black pencil skirt. Harold walked in, interrupting her thoughts about her conversation with her older cousin yesterday.

"Bridgette's been kidnapped."

"She drew his focus away from Shania. Good call."

"Thank you. Her Clerk's outside their location; I told him to wait for our team."

"And Courtney?"

"Still on task." Harold bowed and started walking away.

"Are you a fan Harold?" Heather asked him, but still looking at the skyline. Harold turned around to face her.

"Of who?"

"Of Shania, do you like her music?"

"I don't think that's a pertinent question, at least, not at the level we're dealing with."

"Nope. So get the girl, close it out." Harold bowed and left the office. _It didn't have to turn out this way. None of it did. If it weren't for The Sir, none of this would've happened._

* * *

Courtney didn't have much time to act. It was now or never.

"What are you doing?" Courtney asked Shania. Shania was dancing in front of a mirror, watching herself. She stopped dancing and looked at Courtney through the mirror.

"You scared me."

"I scared you? After everything that's happened, I scared you?"

"Why are you here? I fired you."

"I'm not here to fight, and I'm sorry for the things that I said. How can I help?" A long moment of silence.

"You can leave."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"The show must go on."

"You can't be serious. This just isn't about you anymore; somebody else's life is in danger!"

"We called the police. What else do you want from me?"

"You know this guy. You know what he's capable of. You can stop him from hurting Brianna!"

"I can't stop him."

"You can try! She's your friend!"

"She's a fan! She'd want me to continue."

"Shania, I know you don't feel anything or think you don't, but you will. You will if you do something to save Bridgette. You will help Bridgette." And Courtney retreated into the darkness, got a folding chair, crept behind Shania, and whacked her on the head with it, effectively knocking her out. "Friends help each other out."

* * *

After the man had Bridgette sing for him, he got a message from Courtney.

"Hey there fan number one. My name is Janis, and I have Shania. I want to make an exchange, no funny stuff. I want to meet you at the original place where the shooting was supposed to go down, and you can have her. No funny stuff or I'll be the one putting the bullet in Shania's brain, not you." The call ended there.

"Get up. GET UP!"

"A little hard to do, being that I'm bound on the ground!" Bridgette fired back, now thoroughly pissed at the man.

"Then let's get up together!" He forcibly pulled Bridgette up and the two left to the El Capitan Theater.

* * *

Harold had learned of what Courtney did. Not the hurting Shania part, but that she brought Shania to the killer. He was furious, and to release his pent-up rage, he immediately went to Cody's office space and rammed him against one of the walls.

"WHAT THE HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! ARE YOU DOING THIS ON PURPOSE OR ARE YOU JUST TERRIBLE AT YOUR JOB?!" Harold screamed into Cody's face.

"Uh…neither. Doing what?"

"Courtney's off task. Your little brainchild just backfired."

"Okay, okay, firstly: OW! Secondly: Courtney is hard wired to protect the client. Sometimes, these things play out differently than we've anticipated."

"YOU BETTER CHECK YOUR TECH!" Cody was now furious.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Cody pushed Harold off of him and was no longer against the wall. "YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE HAROLD! OF THE TWO PEOPLE HERE, ONE OF US IS A GENIUS, AND THE OTHER IS A FORMER GENIUS TURNED SECURITY GUARD IN A LOVELY SUIT!"

"All right genius, tell me why Courtney would kidnap the girl you programmed her to protect and bring her to the man who's trying to kill her." Cody remained silent and baffled.

"Oh. That sounds kinda bad."

"UGH! FORGET IT!" Harold stormed out of the office space, going back to Heather. "Heather! What are we going to do?" She was still sitting in her swivel chair, looking out over the skyline, thinking. Her skills of deceit and treachery were as sharp as ever, and a plan was formulating in her head.

"Get Chase on the phone. Have him go in there."

"We're going to shoot the guy, right?"

"Yes. But I give the ultimate okay." Harold used the phone, but left it on speakerphone.

"Chase?"

"Harold! Hey, what's up?"

"We need you to go into the El Capitan Theater and eliminate the guy who has a gun pointed at Bridgette's head."

"Where are they?"

"We know that they're in the concert area, that's all. We don't know where exactly they are."

Chase sighed. "Fine. Russell or no Russell?"

"Bring him."

"No." Heather butted in. "Don't bring in Russell."

"Ma'am—"

"You heard me Harold. Chase, go alone, but keep us on the line. That way, we can hear how they're doing."

"I like the way she thinks Harold." Chase grinned to himself.

"Get in there." Harold stonily replied.

Chase skulked into the theater and into the concert area. He looked all over the dark room, but found no one. He kept looking backstage, onstage, in the mosh pit, everywhere. Then he heard a scream. _The rafters. Oh crap._ Chase pulled out his gun and started looking for the stairs that would lead to the rafters.

"Please, I'm sorry!" He could hear Shania sniveling and crying for her life and everyone else's.

"In position. I have a clear shot." Chase uttered through his Bluetooth piece.

"We're ready to eliminate the threat. Heather?" Harold asked her, praying that she'd say yes.

"Not just yet." Chase heard her commands, but kept his gun cocked and pointed at the red head.

"You know, this killer looks a lot like you Harold, no kidding."

"Shut up!" Harold yelled.

"Be quiet Harold!" Heather furiously whispered.

Chase kept watching Shania, Courtney, the red head, and Bridgette.

"Leave them." Heather suddenly commanded.

"You're boss Heather." And Chase left the concert area and waited outside of it, waiting for the ordeal to be over and done with.

"I don't want to hurt anymore." Shania cried.

"Let's leave it up to him." Courtney replied. "He decides your fate, right?"

"No, no, no!" Shania kept sobbing. "Please, he's crazy!" The man's slight grin started to falter.

"Guess it's not love after all."

"She doesn't mean that." The man seethed.

"I'm sorry." Shania apologized.

"Shania, I would never hurt you."

"Oh God, now you're changing your story too?!" Courtney rolled her eyes.

"SHUT UP!" The man left Bridgette sobbing on the metal floor. "I could kill you and have both girls. I could kill everybody." The man now had a crazed look in his eyes.

"NO!!!" Shania yelled.

"She doesn't seem to like that idea." Courtney pointed out the obvious to get on the man's nerves.

"SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!! I WILL SHOOT YOU!" Courtney pushed Shania to the ground and was ready to push her off the rafters and down to the stage.

"Then I'll let her go." The man backed off once Courtney did this.

"You don't want to die; you don't want her dead; this is way too confusing!" Courtney pushed Shania off the rafters, but Shania had her hands tied to some rope, so she managed to stay on and not die. The man cried out in anguish and ran to the rope to try to pull her up, but Courtney ran him into a post inside the building and slammed the gun out of his hand. He punched her, but she picked up the gun and pointed it at him. Finally, just to make sure he wouldn't harm anyone, she slammed the butt of the gun across his head, knocking him out.

"Is Shania okay?" Bridgette asked as Courtney helped her up. Courtney immediately went to check on Shania, who was still hanging onto the rope.

"Please don't let me die! I WANT TO LIVE!" Shania looked grateful now, and Courtney was glad. _I know…_And Courtney started to pull Shania up, and they both left the rafters. Shania ran out of the theater, leaving Courtney and Bridgette in one of the theaters.

"I will have quite a story to tell once I get back to BC!" Bridgette squealed.

"This is what everyday's like in America!" Courtney replied, still smiling because she was able to save Shania from herself.

"Part of it was scary, but it was by far the most exciting, fulfilling, and wonderful day of my life!"

"Have fun when you get back in BC Bridgette." Courtney hugged Bridgette.

"That's all I need." Russell had just barreled into the theater hall with Chase. "You rubbing off on her."

"Who the hell are you?" Courtney asked Russell.

"Brianna, time for your Treatment." Bridgette nodded, and the two left the theater. Now it was just Courtney and Chase.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Are you ready for your Treatment?" Chase calmly asked Courtney.

"Yeah, but can I kick that guy's ass first?"

"I will seriously consider it." Chase laughed; the pain in his abdomen long gone.

* * *

"DAMN IT HEATHER! SHE'S A RISK, AN INCREASING RISK!" Harold slammed his hand on her computer desk.

"She had control over the situation."

"BUT WE CAN'T CONTROL HER! I'm recommending that we send Courtney to the Attic before someone else ends up dead, OR WORSE, she compromises this organization."

"I believe she acted in our best interests."

"She went off mission!"

"In fact, I believe she did quite the opposite. She stopped the person who wanted Shania dead, it just so happened to be herself. And by literally dangling the threat of death in front of her, she prevented Shania from ever being a danger to herself ever again. Courtney took the mission parameter and did even better. I knew she could always think like me. You're dismissed Harold." Harold, though thoroughly pissed, bowed and left Heather alone in her office.

* * *

"Courtney seems to have the ability to think outside of the box, in pieces she can create." Chase and Beth were observing Courtney painting with brushes quite randomly on a sheet of paper.

"Create a new approach to the problem." Beth added.

"It's impressive. I don't know what it means, but it's impressive. She really is special." Beth stopped breathing for a moment after Chase said that.

"Special isn't always a good thing here."

"Heather's a businesswoman. Is she really going to harm her best Mankin?"

"She wasn't always the best."

"You're talking about Tyler."

"I'm just saying, sometimes, the best thing to hope for is good enough."

Courtney left the painting station and started to walk around. As she was walking, Bridgette was also walking, and noticed Courtney and decided to go to her. However, as Courtney was walking, she noticed Chase and Beth watching her from the second floor, then Russell talking to two other guys. _Who are they? They look…mean._ As Bridgette drew closer, Courtney quickly shook her head. _No, please, not now…_Bridgette looked downcast, and walked right past Courtney.

* * *

Sadie had made it to the hospital where DJ was being kept. She needed to see him, just to know what happened, and if he was okay. She didn't really want him to die; truthfully, she wanted to rekindle the love they used to have years ago. But she never admitted it to herself; it was buried deep in her mind. There was a guy standing outside of DJ's room.

"Please, I'm a friend of Agent Jones. What happened to him?"

"I'm not at liberty to say."

"Is he going to be okay?" Sadie felt as though she were about to burst into tears.

"I…don't know. I'm sorry miss, come back tomorrow, during visiting hours."

"Oh. Okay." Sadie looked down, dejected, and then she looked through the window to DJ's bed. He was looking at the wall, or was he sleeping? Sadie didn't know, but DJ was staring blankly at the wall, thinking about how he messed up, how he should've trusted Nicolai. Sadie heaved a sigh and left the hospital.

* * *

**A/N**: BOOOOOM!!!! How'd you like that? Still confusing? Dry? Action packed? Too much blood? Type what you think!

The Attic...oooo, it really does exist.

Leshawna is still with Shania, and Heather's older cousin Joe is still with her too.

The fate of the red headed lanky man is and will remain unknown.

Places where Courtney called Bridgette by her actual name instead of Brianna are not typos; remember, Leshawna re-jogged Courtney's memory.

No songs in mind again. Sorry people!

Same couples, same Company, yeah.

Will DJ and Sadie rekindle their love? Will Courtney and Bridgette break out of the Twilight Mall? Will Cody and Beth ever truly become a couple? How's Chris doing? Is Heather going to find love? Is Leshawna going to be kidnapped? Is Harold going to snap? Will Leshawna warn anyone about Courtney and Bridgette's whereabouts? Is The Company holding up fine, or is Gwen contemplating suicide? What is "the Incident"? Who is The Sir and will he work his way into the fanfic at all? Where is Tyler during all of this? Does he miss Lindsay, and does Lindsay feel the same way? All that and more, NEXT!!! Review please!

Oh, and check out my Dollhouse fanfic! Yeah, no updates yet, not until I get a review. Heh, I have standards.


	10. Gray Hour

**A/N: **We're going back into the long chapters! This is part one of two of a chapter I should've had out last week, but didn't. Whoops! I was working on my other fanfic **Helpless Indulgence**, so I stopped working on this one for about a week. But now I'm back, and here's part one. Part two will be up shortly--or not, I really don't know. I still have to type up this week's chapter, so um...yeah, sorry. So review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

"Geoff?"

"Sadie? What's wrong?"

"DJ's been shot."

"What?! How?!"

"I don't know! I think Zeke might know something. Remember how quickly he brushed off DJ's absence?"

"Yeah, but—"

"We need to know what DJ knows."

"Sadie, chill! We'll find out in the morning, okay?"

"Okay."

"Bye." And Geoff hung up. He called Noah, who then called Izzy, who then told Owen, who then called Duncan, who then called Gwen. All of them now knew of what had befallen DJ. However, Sadie resolved to call him or see him after he was released from the hospital.

* * *

A few more days passed, and Sadie had failed to go and see DJ. She wanted to, but couldn't bring herself to do it.

* * *

In the Twilight Mall, at around 11 AM, Courtney swam 30 laps in a narrow rectangular shaped indoor pool. It soon rolled into lunchtime, and she was eating some yellow bell peppers stuffed with a mix of vegetables and brown rice and a few leaves of lettuce. Nick was also at the table, eating the same thing as Courtney, and Bridgette was looking for a place to sit, the same food on her plate as Nick and Courtney's.

"Hello." Courtney greeted Bridgette, who was just walking by Nick and Courtney's table. Bridgette offered a smile. "Would you care to sit down?" Bridgette gladly sat down across from Courtney.

"I didn't know where to sit." Courtney started to strike up some nice conversation.

"I swam 30 laps today."

"Good for you."

"I'm tired now."

"It's important to exercise. I try to be my best." It was how the Mankins responded: in small sentences due to their mind wiped state. But Bridgette's last sentence struck a chord in Courtney, a chord that prompted her to ask Bridgette a question.

"Are you?"

"Hm?" Bridgette's mouth was somewhat full of the medley of vegetables and brown rice, but Bridgette quickly gulped it down. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

"Are you your best?" Bridgette's eyebrows furrowed a bit, and she was in deep thought.

"I'm not sure how I would know that."

"I think if you always try, that's best…right?" She looked to Nick for an agreement…or disagreement.

"Every day is a chance to be better." He didn't have a Russian accent anymore. And he proceeded to pick up a piece of broccoli and eat it. However, there were two pairs of eyes on the three Mankins: Chase and Cody.

"They're eating lunch Cody." Chase tersely responded.

"They're eating lunch TOGETHER dude. The same three. Even the same table." Bridgette, Nick, and Courtney had been eating at the same table for the past few days, ever since Bridgette and Courtney came back from their latest Outing, the one concerning Shania Gold, who was now back to normal and in Oregon performing. "They're grouping."

"Are you saying that they remember each other?"

"No, no, no, the wipes are clean. This goes deeper than memory, to instinct in fact. It's…survival patterns. They're flocking. Sparrows turning on a dime, salmon swimming upstream, this isn't a book club dude, this is the herd."

"They're not bison."

"They're a little bit like bison."

"They didn't used to be."

"I know. I know two of them. Sweet girls. Okay, maybe not one of them, but the other was certainly sweet." Chase was already walking away. "Fine, don't listen to me. But they're wiped clean; they can't remember each other. It's unheard of."

* * *

Heather was meeting up with her latest client, a Grecian billionaire named Kostas Argost. The two were discussing the terms of yet another Outing, and Courtney and Bridgette were being sent out once more.

"The problem is not insurmountable."

"What problem?" Kostas was a very aged man, around sixty years old, and he was dressed in a regular business suit.

"Upon review, your Outing was flagged as having certain…special requirements." Today, Heather was wearing black pumps, black pencil skirt, even her long sleeve loose blouse and camisole was black. And her jewelry, earrings and a delicate necklace with a large gem on it were black.

"I thought you could make your…Mankins have what I ask."

"That's correct; however, our computers do calculate possible risks to our Mankins."

"But you. You don't know."

"No one knows the details of your Outing but you." That was somewhat true. All clients were entitled to their right to tell Heather what the exact parameters of an Outing were—but if they didn't want to, company policy instructed that Heather must respect that privacy and not try to find out. As much as that made Heather want to grit her teeth, she knew there was nothing she could do, lest she want to be jobless. And she liked watching her former TD scum, as she called them. But then the phone rang, interrupting her train of thought. "Excuse me, I'm very sorry." She left to her desk and picked up the phone.

"Greer."

"Hello Heather. DJ is getting close to us. He's only in LA, a mere six hours away." The Sir immediately got down to the gist of his call. He knew she was in the middle of a meeting; not only was it written on her voice, she was also being watched by secret cameras dispersed throughout the room.

"Yes sir, of course I understand your concern. Our main goal now is to conclude this… matter as quickly as possible." Heather looked down at an Imprint card of Nick and photos of DJ.

"Good. Hurry up. We can't give him time to find out more about us."

"Yes, the less time we give him to spin his own theories the better I think."

"Kill him if you must, we need him out of our hair." Heather objected to this idea subtly.

"Well, he needs closure, and we're the experts at giving people what they need." She stole a glance at Kostas, who was now standing and looking over the Las Vegas skyline. The Sir did not take too kindly to Heather's defiance, but didn't let her know.

"Remember Heather, you owe me. And also, you get rid of him, by any means necessary."

"Yes sir, I'll keep you in—" The Sir had hung up in a way of telling her to submit to his rule. The Sir did not like being bossed around or defied as much as Heather did, except he was older and more brutal. She was just venomous, susceptible to succumbing to her feelings. "Formed, goodbye." She turned back to Kostas and started walking back to the leather couches. She plastered a smile on her face so she could conceal her mix of feelings towards The Sir's surprise phone call. "I haven't offered you a drink. Tea or something stronger?"

"These computers…if they say I have to pay more, I pay more."

"You're a very understanding man Mr. Argost. This way please. Judy will handle the details." The two were now at the door, and she had opened it to let Kostas out.

"This is not for me you know. This time, it's gift."

"You're a very generous man." He nodded and left Heather in her office to ponder her own medley of feelings towards The Sir.

* * *

"Trent was supposed to start performing today." Gwen couldn't get over Trent's sudden disappearance. "Are you sure he didn't just leave?"

"We're pretty sure he's been kidnapped Gwen." Noah calmly soothed her. Gwen, Noah, Izzy, Owen, Duncan, and Geoff were gathered in Conference Room 2B at 8 PM, which they had made their meeting place in the event of an emergency. Sadie and Ezekiel were at the hospital helping DJ check out. "I haven't found any records of her."

"Has this hit the news?" Duncan asked Geoff.

"Yeah. With a star as big as Trent, it's causing a lot of speculation. I have friends in the LA Times, so I know things."

"Is Hollywood High expecting you back at your job?" Izzy asked Duncan.

"Not for a long time. But I'm not sure."

"Yeah dude, we don't want you to lose your job over this." Geoff added.

"No, it's cool."

"Are you sure you don't need any company Gwen?" Izzy asked her.

"It's fine. I'll just stay at the hotel. However, I'm going to need a place to stay tomorrow, because I'm checking out tomorrow."

"I'll call Sadie and see if she can have you stay with her." Noah called Sadie using his Samsung Propel, yet another ancient phone compared to the ones out on the market. "Sadie, its Noah."

"He's gone."

"What?"

"DJ checked himself out of the hospital and Zeke and I called his cell and the hotel; he's not there."

"Do you need us?"

"I'm going to look for him with Zeke."

"Wait, could you have Gwen stay at your place tomorrow? She's checking out of her hotel suite tomorrow, and she needs a place to stay."

"Yeah, sure. Just uh…remind me tomorrow so I can get the spare room ready."

"Wait—"

"Bye Noah." And she hung up.

"Crap, she hung up on me. But you can stay over at her house Gwen."

"Thanks Noah. Who knew I'd actually be grateful for you one day, after all of the stuff that happened in TD."

"Yeah, things change over time."

"And it seems we all have." Geoff added. "Gwen, you should go. LA gets…dangerous around this time."

"Thanks so much for being here for me guys."

"No problem." Geoff smiled, and Gwen left the group.

"I better get going too." Duncan added to break the silence. The rest of the group nodded, and they all left the conference room.

* * *

Courtney (now known as Natalie "Taffy" Jensen) was now at the same hotel Gwen and DJ were staying at (both of them were in their suites, Gwen wallowing in her sorrow and DJ evading Sadie and Ezekiel), but Courtney was in the bathroom in the lobby, getting herself primped and ready. She was wearing an extremely deep cut V neck blood red long sleeve blouse, a short black leather miniskirt, and black leather stiletto boots that ended just above her knees. She applied a dangerously dark shade of red lipstick on her lips, stuffed a vial in her black bra (which was somewhat showing; the more dangerously sexy looking the better in her opinion), stuffed another tube of lipstick in one of her leather boots, checked her Omega watch hidden under the billowing sleeve of her blouse, fluffed her hair, and uttered one thing to the mirror.

"Blue skies." She grabbed her big black leather purse and walked out of the bathroom and to the bar to meet the three guys she was going to be hanging out with for the night. All four of them were starting to get loud, and fast, which got on the nerves of everyone in the bar, including the manager of the hotel, who had been called by the bartender to tell them to be a little more quiet. The manager walked up to the four.

"Gentlemen, ma'am."

"Sir." Courtney gave a wry smile to the manager.

"Perhaps you'd like to continue the party upstairs?" Courtney gave a groan in response and started pouting.

"But we were having fun!"

"We'll send up a bottle of complimentary champagne up to your suite." One of the men, around the same age as Courtney named Michael, looked at the manager.

"Make it two and you have yourself a deal." Courtney started laughing and squealing in delight.

"Two it is." The manager smiled and left the four, who now proceeded to walk to the elevator. Gwen, however, had just come down to the lobby to leave the hotel. She had to take a walk to dispel her troubles, and she saw Courtney with the three men. _What's she doing here?_ Courtney saw her too, and her smile fell. _Gwen…? _

"Courtney?" Courtney and the three men were now in the elevator, and the elevator door was closing.

"Gwen?" Courtney recognized her, and then mouthed fifth floor before the elevator door closed. Gwen knew what she had to do. She left to the stairs and ran up them to the fifth floor, which just so happened to be the same floor DJ was staying on.

"Taffy, you know what to do?" Brad, another accomplice the same age as Courtney, asked her, and she was sent crashing back down into her imprinted personality.

"Yes."

* * *

"DJ, open up. I need to talk to you." Gwen knocked on DJ's suite door. He went to open the door, knowing it was Gwen.

"Hey, what's the matter?" DJ gestured her in, and she gladly went inside the suite.

"I saw Courtney in the hotel lobby. She said she was going to this floor."

"We'll get her then."

"DJ, she's not her normal self. She was with three other guys, and she looked like she was having FUN with them. She might not like Duncan anymore, but I always suspected she had some feelings left for him."

"How is this—?"

"She wasn't even dressed like she normally would be. I always thought she was conservative. Do you know what I saw her wearing? She was wearing stiletto boots; a low V neck cut blouse, and a black miniskirt!"

"That doesn't sound like Courtney at all. Are you sure it was her?"

"I'm dead positive. I can recognize my TD friends from a mile away. I don't know where on this floor she's staying though, so I think we should stay here and try to find her."

"No. Whoever's with her will try to alert security and have us kicked out. We need to wait." And so Gwen and DJ waited for Courtney to come knocking on their door, which she did—an hour later.

* * *

Courtney came tearing out of her and the guys' suite, shirt nearly unbuttoned, almost all of her black bra showing, blood trickling from a cut on her lip, and she was screaming.

"HELP! SOMEBODY?! PLEASE! HELP!" She banged on almost every single door on the floor, and it was all because the guys were after her. Brad and Michael had their dress shirts unbuttoned and each was carrying a champagne bottle, each half empty. The other one, a 45 year old art expert named Peter, stayed inside the suite.

"Taffy! Come on!" Michael yelled to her. Both were drunk out of their minds, and both wanted a piece of Courtney. Gwen and DJ both heard Courtney's cries for help and opened the door just a crack so the two men wouldn't notice them. However, at the same time, the manager of the hotel was walking through, and Gwen and DJ quickly hid back in the suite.

"What do we do DJ? Didn't you see her?"

"She has a lot of makeup on, but that's her alright."

"What do we do?!" DJ sat down on his bed, pondering Gwen's frantic question.

"There is one way we can find her. I admit, it'll be a bit tricky, but I know we can do it." Gwen immediately stopped acting frantic, and her resolve was back.

"What do I have to do?"

"You'll have to follow the manager. He's going to go to a locked down area of the hotel and take Courtney there to talk with her privately. It's through the kitchen, and they're already on their way, so you'll have to work fast. Do you have your cell phone with you?" Gwen took it out of her black leather miniskirt pocket and waved it in her hand.

"Always."

"Go." And with that, Gwen was tearing out of the fifth floor and down into the kitchen.

* * *

Meanwhile, Courtney and the manager had just finished walking through the kitchen and were now in front of a metal door.

"Don't worry; those idiots didn't follow us. Even if they did, they'd have no way of getting through here." The manager typed in an eight digit code to open the door. Courtney caught the numbers he was typing in to keep her mind off the guys who wanted to take advantage of her. "See? Everything's fine." And he closed the door after him. "Why don't you sit down?"

"That was not okay. And I know who I am, and what I do, but I didn't sign up for that. And I really have to go." She started to re-button her blouse up, bra being shown to the manager, who couldn't keep his eyes off of her for two reasons. One, he thought she was smoking hot. Two, he had other business to take care of.

"Wait."

"Is there a back door? I have somewhere I need to be. What are you doing?" The manager was now getting out a stack of money from his personal safe.

"I understand you've had a difficult evening ma'am."

"You bet your sorry ass I have!" Gwen heard Courtney's argument, and she started watching from the window.

"And we deeply regret any indignities you may have suffered. But it's hotel policy to offer a onetime payment to compensate you." He set down the stack of money in the line of sight of Courtney before going to a metal cabinet to get out a piece of paper.

"You want me to let those freaks off the hook? Fine, they're off the hook, I just want to go."

"You feel that way now. You might not feel the same way tomorrow. We feel it's in your best interest if you—"

"I'm leaving." Courtney was about to turn the knob on the door.

"Ma'am, that's ten thousand dollars on the table." That stopped her. _That's a lot of money._ "Now all you have to do is sign this piece of paper stating that you will not pursue legal action against the hotel or the guests in question, and you walk away."

"With…that?" She set her purse down next to the stack of money.

"Ten thousand dollars."

"I just take your ten thousand dollars and disappear?"

"Yeah. You'd be free. You can go anywhere."

"Thanks, but no thanks." She took her purse, taking care to also push the money off the table, and as she suspected, the man started to pick up the money. She made her move then. She kneed him in the chin, sending him hurtling to some metal lockers, and then he was effectively passed out. Courtney set her purse back down on the table, took out her cell phone, and called the three men who were now in the suite changed in all black clothing. "I'm in. Door code is 07341925." She picked up the ten thousand dollars and stood over the now knocked out manager, thumbing through the stack of money, and Gwen was outside, gasping in shock. "Blue skies. And thanks for the consolation fee." She licked the blood off her lips, and it was now gone, not even a scratch to prove she had been bleeding. "Ketchup makes great fake blood, don't you think?" She started to get changed into her own black clothes.

* * *

Gwen got out her cell phone and started running out of the hotel as fast as she could, calling DJ.

"This is Agent Jones."

"DJ! We've got problems! Courtney's planning something major, and she knocked out the manager of the hotel!"

"Please leave a message after the beep."

"CRAP! DJ! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!?!"

* * *

In DJ's suite, he was down on the floor, out cold. The room was dark, and the shadow of a man was standing over DJ's limp body. The voice that filled the air was a hoarse Russian accent.

"It is for your own good Agent Jones." Nick, however, could not kill him, and jumped out of the five story window, landing on the ground without a hitch—or witnesses to see his superhuman power.

* * *

"They're called breasts, and yes, they're exceptional. So stop ogling and get back to work." Courtney was buttoning up her black dress shirt while Brad was moving the lockers and the file cabinets away from the walls.

"So boss, what do we really call you?" Michael asked as he pieced together a few C4 explosives—modified of course.

"You really call me Taffy. And the client's the boss. He put together this merry band of thieves, and in his infinite wisdom he decided that—well, guess I am the boss of you."

"Not taking him out's your first mistake." Brad remarked as he looked down on the manager. Courtney pinned him to the side of one of the lockers and started choking him, scaring Peter, who was nearby, out of his wits.

"I figured out on my first job with a little creative thinking on my part that almost got me not paid—never second guess a client—and wear comfy shoes. Our client's paying premium for no kill, so he gets no kill, okie doke?"

"I-I-I think you're hurting him." Peter remarked, still scared.

"Nice going Einstein, figure that out on your own? You're lucky this is a no kill job. Could've been trouble there." She loosened her grip on Brad and oversaw Michael applying the C4s to the blank gray wall.

"Right, shouldn't we go far away now?" Peter asked, not wanting to be around four C4s about to explode.

"Here's how this is going to go: in 64 seconds, the high security building on the other side of that wall will be shutting down their motion sensors, infrared sensors, security cameras, and we will be in a gray hour. In the one hour it takes them to revolutionize their security system impenetrable, we penetrate."

"Excuse me, if their system is down, they must know someone is going to try and break in."

"That's six seconds we can't get back. Inside security, five guards. They have GPS tracking devices implanted in their badges, and they're going to be focused on perimeter threats. They're not allowed on the vault floor during gray hour for security reasons. Do you have them yet?"

"Not till we're inside. The sensors won't pick up anything—" Courtney cut off Brad's explanation.

"Fifteen seconds. Ready to go boom?" She asked Michael.

"Ready."

"Shouldn't we sync our watches—?" Brad was cut off yet again.

"Sweetie! You're on Taffy Standard Time now. In 3…2…1…GO." And with that, the C4s were set off, and the wall was broken down.

"One hundred people must've heard this!" Brad hoarsely whispered as Courtney grabbed her black purse and started walking through the wall.

"Upstairs, they're just thinking a truck rumbled by, I am the BEST my man!" Michael praised himself for a minute.

"Yeah, yeah, we're all the best." Courtney laxly dismissed him, and all four of them kept walking through the corridor of the hotel underground. "So pretty." She laid her eyes on a giant safe.

"Hey, if she's the best, how come we've never heard of her?" Brad whispered to Michael. Courtney heard every word.

"You ever heard of Bonnie and Clyde?"

"You're Bonnie?" Brad asked.

"No, I meant that's stupid. Bonnie and her gun crazy beau didn't want to be the best. The best look for a quiet life, called upon when their talents can be used. Bonnie and Clyde wanted fame, notoriety, and they got it, but they also ended up dead. I'll pass on that. When all of this is over, feel free to forget I exist. Now be quiet while this baby and I get to know each other better." She kept working on the two dials, turning them to get the right combination to open the safe.

"Coming online…guards are—" Brad didn't get to finish his sentence, because the safe had started to creak open.

"Clock's ticking boys." Courtney went in, and Brad, Michael, and Peter followed her. But it wasn't money they were after—what they found was a huge safe full of stolen art. Everything from paintings by greats such as Picasso to sculptures from antiquity was stored here, but not all were real. Some were high quality counterfeits, as Peter explained. He specialized in identifying art from antiquity. "Hey, old stuff guy, old stuff's over here."

"Thank you gods…and goddesses." He laid his eyes upon sculptures covered in sheets and ran to them, examining each one.

"Gray hour is now 45 minutes long. This is what we're here for. Tell me if it's the real thing so we can pack it up and get out of here." Courtney took out a sketch of a frieze and showed it to Peter.

"I thought it might be this. Why else would I have been chosen?"

"Chosen for what? What are we taking out of here?" Michael asked. Peter looked up from the sketch.

"The Parthenon."

"Isn't that kinda big?"

"No, no, it's only a small part." Peter kept rummaging through everything. "Ah, here it is. Michael, can you come here and hold it for me? I need to check its authenticity." Michael shrugged and rolled his eyes before going to Peter and picking up the section of the Parthenon. "This is one of the missing Elegant Marbles. Okay, but we're looking for a frieze, not a model."

"Over their heads professor." Courtney could understand what Peter was rambling about, but Brad and Michael couldn't.

"The Elegant Marbles are large sections of the Parthenon's marble friezes and statues stolen in the late 19th century. Yeah, it's been a long time. People can hold grudges for generations."

"But we are stealing stolen art." Brad remarked.

"Not technically. You see, the Turks who controlled Athens at the time, they gave a very important earl permission to remove the marbles."

"So Greece hired us to take this one back." Michael got the picture.

"Client info is confidential." Courtney tried to shut Michael up.

"Explains why we got hired through middlemen." Brad added.

"And the no kill order. Things go bad; they don't want some kind of international incident."

"When a client doesn't say up front who they are, finding out's usually not healthy. How about we stop speculating—?" Courtney was cut off by Brad this time.

"The guards are rotating down the floors."

"They're not coming down here. At least not for the next 34 minutes."

"You better be right."

"I am."

"So…do you want to grab a drink after this?" Michael asked Courtney when Brad walked away.

"Hmph. Ask me when we get out of here, and I'll consider it."

"Hey, where are you going? HEY!" Brad screamed and ran to Peter, who now had the frieze and was ready to run out of the safe with it. Peter grabbed a sword and thrust it into Brad's stomach. It was too late. By the time Courtney and Michael realized Peter had absconded with their item, the safe door was closed and locked, and there was no way of getting out.

"BASTARD!" Michael screamed to the door. Brad almost collapsed, but Courtney caught him and helped him up.

"Hey, you're going to be okay. I'll get us out of here." She sat him down on a wood crate.

"When does the alarm go off?"

"Thirty one minutes. Hey, it'll be okay. I'm just going to make a quick call." She got out her cell phone and dialed Chase, who was conveniently in the same black van outside of the hotel.

"What's up?"

"It's me."

"How the hell do you get reception down here?!" Michael asked Courtney.

"I got a double crosser coming your way, on the southwest corner of the building. He has what we came here for. Black bag, you're going to have to complete this job for me, I need a happy client." Courtney instructed Chase.

"I'm on it. Everything all right in there?"

"We're locked in, my tech guy's going to need medical, but I'm fine and I can get us out, which is irrelevant if the job's a wash."

"I'll finish the job, just get out of there."

"Thanks. See you in a few—" A large static noise swept through the call, and it made Chase recoil back in shock.

"FUCKING HELL THAT'S LOUD!!!" Chase ended the call as quickly as he could (which was a long time considering he was sensitive to high pitch noises) and got out of the van, his silver revolver cocked and at the ready.

On the other end, Courtney's hand fell from her head, and she dropped her cell phone. She looked at Brad and Michael.

"Did I…fall asleep?"

* * *

"Neuro-modulator is your friend. And I don't mean friend from kindergarten that you see twice a year. Neuro-mod is your BFF! Brain mapping requires—" Cody was at his desk explaining brain mapping to Blaire Yamato.

"Pizza squares, ice cream bites, beef jerky, and barbeque flavored potato chips?" Blaire took a list off the in office fridge and showed it to Cody. She was wearing a white lab coat over a white spaghetti strap top, opal colored jeans, and black high heels over fishnet stockings.

"God Cody, I didn't know your eating habits were this bad." Tawny was also in the office and sitting on a desk, chewing some spearmint gum. She was wearing a white lab coat, but it was over a flashy orange top, white jeans, and orange heels. "They're almost as bad as mine! Except mine involves more meat."

"Okay, you MAY be the boy god of all things neuro-tastic, and I do worship at your feet—"

"That scrawny kid? Please. He's still the same ladies' man from TD." Tawny kept chewing on her gum. "I should know. I was a die-hard fan of the show. And don't even try to deny it Cody; you've tried to hit on Blaire and me for quite some time now, but I think we all know who you really pine for."

"Don't interrupt me Tawny. However, I'm not getting you all of this stuff Cody."

"Blaire, add juice boxes." Cody commanded from his desk.

"You're privilege abusing, you know that?"

"Huh, I guess spoiled only children DON'T change. Kinda like someone I know all too well…oh wait, she has a little brother." Tawny spit out her spearmint gum into the trashcan. "Score!" While Tawny took out another piece of gum and popped it into her mouth, Blaire rolled her eyes.

"Look, humility is part of the learning process. I break you down, and I build you back up again." Cody got out of his seat and went up to Blaire.

"Hey neuro-tastic boy god, you might want to check this out." Tawny gestured a thumb to a laptop.

"Don't call me—"

"Cody." Blaire got him to look at the laptop, and it was showing Courtney's heartbeat escalating through the roof.

"Uh oh. That can't be good."

* * *

"Shall I go now?" Courtney was in the fetal position and was near tears, crying.

"What's wrong with her? Hysterical woman syndrome?" Michael was circling Courtney, and getting more and more pissed by the second.

"Five minutes ago you were kissing her ass." Brad spat out, still clutching his side and sitting on the same crate.

"Five minutes ago we were on Taffy Standard Time! It's a private number; it's not letting me dial out." Michael was trying to use Courtney's cell phone, but he couldn't contact anyone.

"Shall I go now?" Courtney whispered to herself.

"Yeah, let's go; get us the fuck out of here!" Brad yelled to Courtney. _Damn it, what's wrong with her?_ Michael threw the cell phone across the floor in frustration. "How long?"

"Not long enough. I've had my share of crazies; I know how to deal with this." Michael took off his jacket and knelt down in front of Courtney. "Taffy, hey, I'm not saying this isn't cute; it's adorable."

"…I go now?" Courtney whispered.

"The sooner you open that door, the sooner we can go get that drink, so let's do it."

"Shall I…go now?" Courtney whispered again, and this time, Michael slapped her, and she fell to the ground.

* * *

Peter had just broken out of the hotel's delivery section and was in a narrow stairway. Just a few more steps and he'd be free. But someone was waiting for him: Chase.

"Give me the bag."

"Who are you?"

"The bag."

"I can't do that."

"Give…me…the bag."

"I've got a buyer who pays me twice as much as whoever, so—" Chase was now only a few steps in front of Peter, and he had his silver revolver cocked and at the ready. "Okay, okay. You and me, we go in together, 50/50. I will drop this."

"I'll shoot you."

"This is the Parthenon, this is a piece of the Parthenon, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT'S WORTH, THAT'S MILLIONS! That's—I'll turn it into dust, I swear to God."

"Drop it, I shoot you. Then you don't get paid—or breathe."

"Okay, okay." Peter slowly approached Chase, and as Chase was about to take the bag, Peter put the bag down and ducked under his outstretched arm and started running up the stairs. Chase spun around and shot Peter's calf. Chase then picked up the bag. "FUCK! YOU SHOT ME!"

"Okay, it was just barely. Which means you won't die. And did you honestly think I wouldn't?" Chase started to drag Peter across the stairs to the van. _That was too easy._

* * *

"I can't get in contact with Chase, he's MIA, and Courtney's vitals are—this is the chart. Yeah, they're OFF it." Cody had printed out a paper of Courtney's vitals and left to talk with Heather and Harold in her office, leaving Blaire and Tawny in his office.

"Chase checked in with Central eight minutes ago. Apparently, a member of Courtney's crew absconded with the target item and locked the rest of the team in the vault. Explains the change in vitals." Harold explained coolly. However, Heather and Cody both were in shock of the sudden betrayal.

"This…is a special skills felony Outing. Courtney could have an exploding belly bomb and her heart rate shouldn't go past 65 beats a minute."

"Maybe you made a mistake in the programming."

"Something's wrong. I'll initiate contact—" Heather went to pick up her phone, but Cody stopped her.

"Uh…yeah, Courtney's not picking up her cell."

"You reached out to a Mankin during an Outing without my consent?"

"The adrenaline! It makes me forget my protocols and cues."

"Courtney was on the phone with Chase when her vitals spiked." Harold started to play a sound file of the last few moments of the phone call. At the end, there was a high pitch squeal. "What was that?"

"Play it again." Heather instructed, but Cody already feared the worst.

"Don't play it again."

"What? Why?" Heather's eyebrows were creased, which meant someone was going to get a scratch on their neck soon if there was no explanation.

That's not—uh uh, that didn't happen. How do I know that didn't happen? Because that can't happen."

"What can't happen?"

"I'm pretty sure—no, positive—that something happened. The same exact thing happened…except…without the chair. PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" Cody cringed in fear of Heather and her sharp fingernails.

"You've stated that remote wipes are impossible."

"I've said they're untested. I've said they're a very bad, bad idea. I've said I can't do them."

"How do we undo it?" Heather was hopeful for a solution, but alas, there wasn't one.

"We don't? Look, somebody out there figured out our frequency, hacked into our call, that's not even the hard part, I mean, we're talking about—I could not have seen this coming! THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!"

"Okay, we'll find a scapegoat later. What matters now is the reputation of this company. We have an Outing to complete!"

"I'll confirm that Chase retrieved the target item."

"About Courtney…how bad is it?"

"Being wiped is not unlike being born; it's traumatic. In here, we minimize the trauma with throw pillows and perfectly crunchy lettuce, there's no conflict, but out there, it's all…fluorescent lights and forceps. Right now, Courtney is experiencing EXTREME sensory overload, and that could lead to a coma, or it could turn her into Carey at the prom, either way, we have to help her, because she can't help herself."

* * *

"Okay, now you say it." Michael had been trying to get Courtney to help them for the past few minutes.

"I'm Taffy."

"And?"

"I know how to get us out of here."

"Good, what else?"

"I…try to be my best."

"You are the best, remember Bonnie and Clyde?"

"Are they here too?"

"Okay, let's rewind a few minutes. You were talking on this." Michael held up Courtney's cell phone.

"I was talking on this."

"You were talking, and you said that you could open the door."

"I know how to open the door."

"Yes, good, so open it."

"I try to be my best."

"Yeah, Taffy's gone man. She's not coming back." Brad was now slumped on the side of the crate, no longer sitting on it.

"Who's Taffy?" Courtney asked the two guys.

"What? That's you. You're Taffy." Brad explained.

"Are you okay?!" Courtney suddenly got up and ran to Brad.

"I'll be fine, but your name is Taffy."

"No it's not. My name is Courtney."

* * *

**A/N: **Oh damn! Cliffy! Now I bet you'll be itching to read the next chapter! Well, I'm too lazy to add anything else, and this is long overdue, so just for my sake (and yours too), review please!


	11. Rising

**A/N: **I've got your update right here! There was a problem with the editing of documents, but it's been fixed and I'm back. You'll find out what happened to Gwen and DJ, and it will be elaborated on next chapter. But I'm psyched about the next two chapters, because the episode is my favorite so far. It was better than the bow-hunting scenario, but it contains a lot of religious content. Normally, I'd put it up regardless of what everyone thinks, but I'd still like an opinion or two. If you feel you'll be offended by the next scenario's religious content, I'll make up my own scenario. Just tell me in a review, 'kay? I don't think there's much to say, considering that cliffhanger I left last chapter, so remember to review, and disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

Cody had just finished imprinting Bridgette with the same exact persona as Courtney's. Bridgette was now dressed in black everything, and Heather approached Bridgette.

"Hello Taffy. I'm Heather Greer, and I need your help."

"Blue skies."

* * *

"Most people would die to see this stuff. Now it looks like we're going to." Brad commented while Courtney examined the pieces of art.

"You shouldn't talk. How did you get that wound anyway?" Courtney asked while she looked at _Sunflowers_ by Vincent Van Gogh.

"Don't you remember?"

"The last thing I remember is a blinding light. I was in my Honda Civic, leaving Harvard, and then—"

"Well, Peter, one of our accomplices, took off with our item, and he stabbed me with a sword."

"What was the item?"

"A piece of the Parthenon."

"Wow…where are we?"

"We're in a safe."

"No, where ARE we?"

"In Los Angeles."

"More specific please."

"In the Franklin Hotel." Courtney walked around the safe, looking at all of the pieces of art.

"I never thought I'd come to Los Angeles. I'm from Canada. I guess everything started when I got on Total Drama Island. 'It'll be great publicity when I run for office one day,' I thought. I was so wrong. Everything changed there. I met Duncan, Bridgette, all of those people. And then Chris. The bastard. And Chef Hatchet. It's been so long…what year is it?"

"2017. AGH!"

"It's been ten years? HURCK!" She collapsed to the ground in front of a Pablo Picasso painting.

"Courtney?!"

"Who's…Courtney? Is she here with Bonnie and Clyde?" An unforeseen side effect had occurred from the remote wipe: Courtney's personality was switching between her mind wiped state and her actual personality.

"Taffy?"

"My name is Taffy. I can get us out of here." Courtney repeated with a dull voice. She then laid her eyes on the Picasso painting. "This one's broken."

"Look who's talking. On the inside…so, you like art?"

"It doesn't look right."

"It's not about looking right, it's about feeling right, and you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Yes I do. Nice observation…uh…"

"Brad."

"Brad."

"Wait, Courtney?"

"Yes? Uh…who's Courtney?"

"Aw crap."

"She makes me feel…funny."

"Courtney? The art?"

"Art."

"Well, that's because these other guys, they painted what they saw. This guy, he painted—that's what art's for. It shows who we are. This one is saying how we start out whole, and somewhere along the line, pieces start to slide. We get broken."

"That's sad."

"No, it's weak. You either get broken or you're the one doing the breaking. No mystery which way you went." Michael got out a drill and a few other tools out of a black duffel bag.

"Excuse me? I don't think that's any way to talk to me."

"Taffy?" Michael turned around and asked Courtney.

"It's Courtney. And we need to get out of here. What do we have to do?"

* * *

"Ten months of research. Blueprints, security systems, police response time. The Parthenon job was supposed to be mine." Bridgette circled Heather.

"Well now it is."

"You're running two ponies all along."

"It was the client's decision."

"Hey, I figured out on my first job with a little creative thinking on my part that almost got me not paid—never second guess a client—and wear comfy shoes. But I learned how to lap dance." Harold almost snickered at Bridgette's last sentence, but he kept his cool visually.

"We'll pay double your usual fee to extract the team."

"Getting sidelined by some GIRL at the last minute? My feelings are hurt."

"I assure you that Courtney is not some girl. She and you are cut from the same cloth."

"I've never had amnesia on the job, but whatevs."

"Three of your peers are locked in that vault with nothing between them and a SWAT team but you. There is no balm for a bruised ego like saving the day." Heather smiled.

"I'll need to see the cash."

"We're a little pressed for time—you under—" Bridgette's smile fell. "But of course. Harold, go and get the money. Now would be preferable." Harold bowed and left the two women.

* * *

"This remote wipe, it's not about creating five seconds of noise, he had to break into our system, which is impossible, get Courtney's cell number, he uh…"

"Or she." Blaire coolly responded while unpacking items from Cody's shopping list. "Tawny, don't eat that." Tawny was about to open a package of Neapolitan ice cream flavored bites, but set it down next to Blaire.

"Or they." Tawny added.

"It has to be a they. I mean, look at this build. It's not even science, its art!" Blaire put away the ice cream bites and closed the fridge. Both girls went to Cody's side to look at his computer. "You saw the firewalls!"

"Yeah, there's many Cody, we know." Tawny laxly dismissed.

"I defy another programmer to put that much neurotrophic factor in each and every personality component. This isn't a lone gunman. This is a conspiracy. A giant multi-pronged conspiracy."

"You need to take something." Blaire coolly commented and left to get some food for herself.

"You know, I heard Chase and Beth saying that Tyler might be alive." By this time, Cody was fed up.

"That's a fucking load of shit and you know it."

"Why don't you ask them? Then get back to me." Tawny left Cody to steal some ice cream bites from the freezer. He picked up his desk phone and started calling Chase.

"Yeah Cody?" Chase picked up his cell phone and answered, still keeping an eye on Peter, who was on the floor of the van.

"When you took Courtney out tonight, did she seem normal?"

"Thanks for the ice cream bites Cody." Tawny said muffled from the 10 bite size cubes in her mouth.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP TAWNY!"

"Jeez, sorry."

"Don't talk to my girlfriend like that! Cody, what the hell's wrong with you?! You know better!"

"Wait a minute. You don't know." Inside the van, Chase stood up.

"Cody, what the fuck is going on?"

"Courtney's been wiped—remotely."

"WHAT?!"

"It's not my fault!"

"I have to call you back." Chase started dialing Heather's office number and left the van. Peter couldn't hear this conversation, lest Chase wanted to be jobless. "Heather."

"Chase."

"I talked to Cody." Heather sighed in response.

"If there were anything you could do, I'd have you doing it."

"I didn't even think remote wipes were possible."

"Neither did we. You've retrieved the target item?"

"Yeah, I got it. So how are you planning on getting Court out of there?"

"We're working on it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm hopeful for a happy outcome."

"And if the outcome isn't happy? What then Heather?"

"Then you should prepare yourself, okay?" Heather hung up on Chase. Chase hung up when he heard the dead tone and walked back into the van to talk with Peter.

"The crew's access point to the vault, where is it?"

"It's in the security office." Chase picked up a pad of paper and a pencil and threw it to Peter. "OW! WATCH IT!"

"Do you think I care?"

"The place is a maze; do you think I'd remember?"

"Try."

"How?"

"As if your life depended on it, which it does. Get drawing." Peter was scared out of his mind (after all, Chase had shot him), so he started writing down directions and drawing a map for good measure.

* * *

"We believe with the right equipment you can get inside the building through the roof."

"Sweetie, equipment's not the issue. Gray hour ends in nine minutes. We won't even make it out of the parking garage. But, if this Courtney chick is as good as you say, brain fry aside, I don't need to get inside. All I need is a phone."

* * *

"I like sky." Courtney and Brad were slumped on the floor next to each other, looking at a landscape painting with snow capped mountains and blue sky.

"The blue kind. Yeah, I remember."

"That's a mountain."

"Yup."

"What's my name?"

"Taffy…Courtney. I really don't know."

"I think I'm…Courtney. Out there, in the mountains."

"Hand me that bag. Up on top of the crate." Courtney found a bag and gave it to Brad.

"What are you looking for?"

"A way outta here." Courtney picked up a gas bomb that Brad had inside the bag.

"What are you doing with this?"

"Courtney—Taffy—I wouldn't pull that pin."

"For the last time, it's Courtney. You know what, take it. There's no hope for us anyway. Not at the rate your buddy's going." Brad took the gas bomb from Courtney's hand and put it in his jacket pocket.

"We're not getting out. He's not getting us out, I'm not getting us out, and you're definitely not getting us out."

"I'm…not?"

"Aw crap, how do you keep changing like that? Whatever. They're going to open that door, and they're going to take us to prison." He pointed to his touchpad tracking the guards inside the complex.

"What's prison?"

"A place with no sky. We're bad guys. When bad guys get caught, they don't get to see sky."

"I'm a bad guy?"

"You are a talking cucumber—for now. Bye Taffy—Courtney—whoever the hell you are." Brad had been fiddling with some knockout liquid for quite some time now, and he was about to inject himself with it when Michael came to the two of them and took the syringe of liquid from Brad.

"Oh no, you're not taking the easy way out. I'm lifting the no kill order. When those doors open," Michael cocked a small machine gun. "We're shooting our way out."

* * *

"Imio Takahashi." Cody was sitting down, hanging his feet over the platform and forehead against the cool stainless steel railing.

"You think he's one of the prongs in the multi-pronged conspiracy?" Blaire asked him while she got out a red apple for herself from the fridge and two packs of barbeque flavored potato chips, one for Tawny and one for Cody. She threw the first one to Tawny, who was sitting next to Cody, and gave the next one to Cody when she walked up to him and sat down on his other side.

"Thanks Blaire."

"Yeah, thanks." Cody opened the bag of chips and buried his face in the opening.

"I'm not that addicted to these chips." Tawny opened her bag and popped a chip in her mouth. "However, you shouldn't entertain yourself with Cody's ramblings. How about doing something more productive, like getting me a juice box?"

"Get it yourself Tawny." Blaire sharply snapped.

"You two are so touchy today!" Tawny got up and went to the fridge to get herself an apple juice box. Cody lifted his head from the bag opening.

"He's always gunning for my job. He loves the beach—"

"Okay, you really think a programmer in Tokyo is going to remote wipe Courtney in LA just to steal your job?" A loud slurp interrupted Blaire and Cody.

"This Takahashi dude must be pretty stupid to do that." Tawny commented, and in a flash, she was sitting back in her original spot.

"He shows Heather his mad skills, suddenly, the Codemeister's not number one." Cody commented while eating a potato chip.

"Courtney could die. Not a good idea for career advancement." Blaire added.

"Anyway, Takahashi's a hack. There's only one person I know who could achieve a remote wipe—and he's dead."

"I told you, ask Chase or Beth. They know something, like, say, the fact that TYLER might be alive!"

"Tawny, that's impossible. Heather—" Blaire was cut off by Tawny.

"You know Heather's a lying snake in fashionable clothes! Always has been. Tyler…he's out there. And Cody's denying it."

"It's impossible! Those multiple imprints—"

"They mesh, remember? It means that Tyler has been planning this for three years." Tawny concluded a rare moment of her genius.

"Why? Why would Tyler do this?" Cody banged his head against the railing.

"Maybe to rescue Lindsay. Or, to rescue all of the Mankins." Blaire offered.

"No…he's out to destroy us. He's going to break this company; he's going to send all of us to jail." Tawny concluded. "I'd hate to be alive when that day comes."

* * *

"You do realize this only works if she picks up, right?" Bridgette asked Heather after trying to call Courtney's cell for the umpteenth time.

"Don't be smart with me."

"And don't be smart with me. That money's appetizing, but if you try to command me, I'll let your precious girl and the rest of the team die in that safe. I can always get new crew members and you know it."

"Just…dial again. Keep dialing—please."

"Can we go over the plan again?" Harold asked the two women.

"Nervous Nelly. He's actually kinda sweet—but not my type. The vault door contains a whole mess of glass wheel locks, if somebody, i.e. me drills through the door from the inside, the glass breaks. Presto, alarm goes off, whole other mess of locks are released. No getting out." Bridgette said while another unsuccessful call came about.

"You bypass the glass."

"Resin. Makes it crack rather than shatter—if you do it right. Well, this is about to be a giant anticlimax. Ten, nine, eight—"

"Dial again—please." Heather instructed.

"Fine." Bridgette started dialing Courtney's cell again.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the safe, Gray hour had just ended.

"I don't like this room anymore. Where are the better rooms?" Courtney asked Michael and Brad. Then, she felt something vibrating in her pocket. "I have something in my pocket. Look." Courtney showed her phone to Brad.

"Pick it up already!" Courtney recoiled back and pressed the talk button on the phone.

"Hello?"

"If I can get the vault door open before the motion detectors reactivate, we're all good. Is this the Chowderhead?" Bridgette (unknown to Courtney) was talking with Heather and Harold just when Courtney picked up her cell.

"I don't know."

"Clearly, yes. Here's the deal: I can get you out of there if you do exactly as I say. Can you do that?"

"I think so."

"Underwhelming, but let's give it a go. You should be carrying a vial of resin. Bra's a good place." Courtney dug through her bra and took out the vial of resin she had stuffed into her bra two hours ago.

"I have it!"

"Good, then you've also got a nozzle thingy tucked into your boot, lipstick like." Courtney felt her leather boots, dug into each of them, and eventually found what looked like lipstick was actually something else entirely.

"Yes!"

"Screw one thingy onto the other thingy and you're going to need a drill."

"She says we need a drill."

"Who's she?" Michael asked Courtney from his position behind one of the walls within the safe.

"I don't know, but I'd give Court—Taffy the drill." Brad stuttered due to his failing strength. Michael rolled his eyes, but went to get his drill. Once he found it, he gave it to Courtney.

"Go to the door, you'll want both hands." Bridgette responded over the phone. Courtney set down the phone and walked with the resin and drill to the safe door. "On three, you'll want to start drilling into the door, doesn't matter where."

"Ready."

"I'm going to close my eyes and pray to God that when I say stop, you will stop. One…two…three…drill." Courtney started drilling into the safe door. After a few seconds, Bridgette started talking again. "Stop." Courtney stopped drilling. "Spray the resin into the hole, three squirts, count them out."

"One, two, three." Courtney sprayed the resin as Bridgette instructed.

"Put the drill in the hole, turn it on. Now this is the important part. Do not remove your hand. Don't think about it, do it." Courtney started drilling, and the drill sank into the door, and the alarm went off. "Chowderhead, talk to me. This wouldn't have happened if you didn't give my job away." Bridgette was now talking to Harold and Heather.

"What's the police response time?" Harold asked Bridgette.

"Seven minutes, guards inside less…six minutes and 15 seconds less."

"BITCH!" Michael yelled and crushed the phone against the safe door, and the line went dead.

"Taffy, thank you for your services." Heather wasted no time in business, everything went fast or people were trampled under everyone else.

"That's it?"

"Harold will take you down for your Treatment."

"Thanks for the cash. Good luck with the girl, if she's still alive that is." And Bridgette took the silver suitcase and left the office.

"I'll notify Chase. He may have to neutralize her."

"No, I'm beginning to suspect that Chase doesn't have the proper distance. Send out for Ramirez and Hutchinson. Put them online."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too." And Harold left Heather to think about the day.

* * *

"Guards are closing in." Brad said after looking at his touchpad. Michael had been moving pieces of art in front of the door as a shield against their impending doom. "Remember, your hands go over your head." Brad was instructing Courtney on how to surrender to the police.

"Okay, why?"

"Because you don't want the guards to put a bullet in your chest."

"Okay, listen, get up, and point this at the bad guys and squeeze the trigger." Michael was forcing Courtney to help him in shooting the guards down.

"Aren't we the bad guys?"

"Get down. Remember what I told you, you either get broken or you're the one doing the breaking." The door started opening, and there were a mess of guards waiting for them, telling them to come out with their hands up. "Start shooting, or I shoot you." Michael pointed his gun at her, and she was now scared out of her mind.

"I'd like to go now."

"Do it. DO IT NOW! What are you waiting for, DO IT!" Courtney eyed the syringe still filled with the yellow liquid.

"NO!!!" She picked up the syringe and thrust it into his neck and pushed the liquid into his system, which sent Michael down on his side shooting at the guards. "I said I'd like to go, but you didn't listen!" Courtney ran to Brad to help him get up. "Brad! Come on, do you know how to get us out of here?"

"Glad you're back Courtney. Around the corner, you can get out." Brad fished through his pocket for his gas bomb, pulled the pin and threw it behind him. Soon, there was a yellow gas in the air.

"I'M NOT LEAVING HERE WITHOUT YOU!"

"No, go, go now! They won't be able to see you!"

"I'm picking you up, let's go, and you're getting medical attention." Courtney helped a limping Brad all the way to their original entrance in the security office, where Chase had just arrived. When she saw Chase however, Courtney went back into her mind wiped state.

"Are you okay?" Chase asked the two.

"He's broken. Can we fix him?"

"We'll try." Chase hauled Brad onto his back.

"I'm not broken."

"No, you're not. Come on, let's get out of here."

* * *

"Gwen?" DJ quietly groaned. He had just woken up from his knocked out state.

"Why didn't you pick up your cell DJ? I've been trying to call you for so long. Do you know what I had to do to get a pass to your room? I had to ask one of the fucking maids."

"What happened?"

"Courtney…it's not her. She was planning a heist, and I don't know why."

"A heist? Forget it, I need some sleep."

"Fine, I'll leave, but don't forget DJ; we need to find Trent—and Courtney."

* * *

"Michelangelo believed his sculptures already existed inside the marble, waiting to be freed. We should get this to our clients first thing in the morning." Heather finished tracing her fingers over the frieze.

"And the antiquities expert?" Harold asked her.

"They can have him too." Heather went to pour herself a shot of bourbon. Harold left, and Cody entered, leaving Tawny and Blaire at his office again.

"So uh…I put Courtney through every test I could think of, which is a lot, and the remote wipe didn't do any permanent damage. Phew!"

"Whatever happened in Courtney's head in that vault, it's gone?" Heather left to her desk and sat down in her leather swivel chair and looked out over the Las Vegas skyline again.

"She's as fresh as morning dew. No pesky human evolution bits lingering around."

"Well done. I believe Nick has completed his debriefing. He's ready to be wiped. And Trent…get him wiped tomorrow morning. More are to be expected as soon as we can track them down."

"Cut the crap Heather. It was Tyler, wasn't it?"

"Don't talk to me like that."

"Hey, no one could come even close to pulling off a remote wipe. He's alive; he's out there, isn't he?"

"You'll need to sign and initial at the bottom." Heather handed Cody a paper and a pen.

"Are you firing me?!"

"No, I'm upping your security clearance."

"Does that mean…no, I'm right?! Tyler is still alive?! Out there?! But…after the incident, you told us security tracked him down and put out his lights. You know, killed him!"

"Our influence is substantial, Tyler with his…gifts, gifts we gave him, finding him…we're not gods Cody, and you know it."

"I'm scared, scared like a little girl. I am so close to wetting myself, and I'm long over that habit."

"Sign and initial at the bottom. I'll tell you what I know about Tyler, and you'll tell me how he did this and how we can keep him from ever doing it again."

* * *

**A/N: **So how'd you like it? Sorry for the abrupt ending, but it'll be continued next chapter. Don't worry about it. I don't think I'll put anything again for the sake of time and for you to review sooner, so just remember to review, and I won't pester you. Just joking! But it would be nice if you reviewed.


	12. Doubt

**A/N: **I am amazed. I love the reviews I have, and the popularity of it in terms of visitors. This is just a thank you to the readers and reviewers of this fanfic, because you all rock for even taking the time to read this--or review in some cases. So now I'm making up for something--you've probably heard of it--something called lost time. Once I get out the next part, I will be all caught up in time for Friday's new episode, which promises to be KICK-ASS! And I can focus back on **Helpless Indulgence**, because I have yet to type any of my ideas. Yeah...and I think this month long break from GftD has cleared my head, so I'm totally prepared for what TDA has to dish out for me (when you've watched **Dollhouse** for a month, you get used to surprises). So be prepared, it's chapter 12 coming at you. Reviews are appreciated, and disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

"Come on, pick up Geoff!" Gwen was on her cell phone at 3 in the morning, and she couldn't sleep, or wouldn't let herself sleep. After she found DJ unconscious in his hotel room, and Courtney's recent appearance, she felt Geoff had a right to know, regardless of the time.

In his small home, Geoff woke up to the ringing of his home phone, and he reluctantly answered it. "Hello?" Geoff slurred.

"Geoff, its Gwen. DJ was knocked out by someone, and he's resting now, but that's not the start of our problems."

"Gwen, what is it? It's…three in the morning."

"I saw Courtney." Geoff was immediately out of his drowsy state.

"Courtney? Where?"

"She's not here anymore. She was planning something major, a heist at the Franklin Hotel. I think she succeeded, but I don't know where she could be now. Geoff, she wasn't acting herself. She was dressed…promiscuously, and was with three other guys. Something is wrong here, and I want to know everything about what I'm getting myself into."

"I already told you everything I know. DJ might know something more. I mean, he is an FBI agent. I'm just the lieutenant of the LAPD."

"You're absolutely sure that you're not hiding anything from me?"

"Well, DJ was shot by someone—it's why he was at the hospital."

"And you didn't tell me this why?"

"I was…going to get around to it. Wait, you said the Franklin Hotel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There's a safe down there that stores art, STOLEN art. It's a police secret, not meant to be known by the public. But there are chances of leaks. That's probably why Courtney was there, whatever you said about a heist. They were probably going to steal a piece of art. Not so sure what though…"

"Okay, it doesn't matter. She's gone, and I don't know where the fuck she could be."

"Just ask DJ in the morning. Like I said, he knows something." Geoff yawned. "He always knows something. Just like that time in TD…" Geoff hung up, placed the phone back in the receiver and fell onto his pillow into a deep sleep.

"Geoff? GEOFF?! FUCK!" Gwen hung up and paced about her hotel room once more.

* * *

"Izzy's scared." Izzy only referred to herself in third person now if she was scared, and in this case, she was. Ever since she and Owen decided to help Geoff and everyone else in finding Courtney, and with the recent disappearance of Trent, Izzy was getting scared that she—or Owen—could be next. For now, they were getting ready for the day ahead.

"Izzy, don't worry. You have fighting skills. If anyone tries to kidnap you, you can fight them off. Or Owen will be there to save you!" Owen stuck out his chest heroically. Izzy let out a high pitch giggle and gave him a big bear hug.

"My hero!" The phone rang, and Izzy went to pick it up. "Daniels and Green Private Detective Services, Izzy Daniels speaking."

"Hey Izzy, its Geoff."

"What is it? Any progress on the case?"

"Well, Gwen and DJ spotted Courtney at the Franklin Hotel, but—wait, let me finish—she was supposedly planning a heist with three other guys, an art heist to be specific, and she's gone. We don't know where Courtney is now, but I think it might lead us to Trent and Bridgette. But that heist…something went wrong. I'm at the hotel, by the way, and there's one dead body with a syringe stuck in his neck."

"Really? Who would do that to a person?"

"It's not being investigated—for now. But I'm here with Sadie, and she's taking the body to the morgue. She'll probably find something. The security guards said they found three people when the safe opened: two guys, one slumped against a crate with a stomach, another one, who we presume is the dead one, and a woman with mocha skin and long brown hair. Sound familiar?"

"Courtney."

"I'm going to check if there are any recent hospital admissions concerning a guy with a stomach wound."

"There are probably tons of guys out there with that."

"Yeah, but I'll visit each one if I have to, because he might know where Courtney is."

"Hey, what if Owen and I bring Duncan along? That way, if we meet the guy and he doesn't talk, Duncan can force an answer out of them through telling them he's her boyfriend."

"Smart as ever Izzy."

"Hey wait, you said three guys were with Courtney right?"

"Yeah."

"Where's the third?"

"We don't know. I know Gwen wasn't lying, but it could be that the third guy was hiding and escaped with Courtney and the wounded guy. Which reminds me, I need to check the hotel records. If Gwen said they were in the lobby, they probably had their own room."

"You should do that first. Owen, Duncan, and I will go check the hospital records. Just send me a list of hospitals to check via text message or email."

"Fine, fine, it's being sent to you…now."

"Thanks a ton Geoff. Bye." After Izzy hung up, a pinging noise filled the room. Izzy had gotten the email with a list of hospitals to check. Thankfully, there were only two. "Come on Owen, we have to pick up Duncan."

"Duncan?"

"I'll tell you in the car."

* * *

Duncan was already dressed for the day. He would've liked to have slept in, but his biological clock prevented him from doing so. His time in Juvie made sure that he would always stick to a strict sleeping schedule for the rest of his life. He was drinking some Foldgers black coffee when there was a knocking on the door.

"Duncan! Open up!" Owen called out to him. Duncan recognized who it was and opened the door to see Izzy and Owen standing in front of him.

"Yeah?"

"Duncan, dude, we saw Courtney."

"Where is she?" Owen looked down. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Duncan, she disappeared. Gwen saw her, not us, but…something happened that you need to know. And you're coming with us. We have a few things to do for Geoff, and we want you to come. So let's go. You're ready, right?" Izzy spoke for Owen, praying Duncan wouldn't attempt to break something, whether it be furniture or a bone or two.

"Yeah, whatever." All Duncan did was put on some worn out Converse before he wordlessly closed his apartment door and followed Izzy and Owen.

* * *

"Hey Noah." Sadie greeted him. Noah had just arrived to the art vault. He had been stuck in traffic, but he managed to arrive. "There's not much here, but there is a lot of art if you're interested."

"I'll keep that in mind. I don't think I'm supposed to be collecting anything."

"You're not, you're just…you have an eye for things. If something's off, you know. So you're here just to make sure nothing's off." Noah looked around the vault.

"As far as I can tell, this looks like a heist completed. But—what's this?" Noah looked down to see a sword—with a bloody tip. "Sadie, I found a sword with some blood on the tip of it. Maybe a heist gone wrong?"

"Maybe. But maybe we should bring it back to the lab for Trace."

"I can't do that. This is art. I'd have to get a warrant to even touch this stuff, let alone use chemicals on it." Sadie walked to him and looked down at the sword. She then took out a Q-tip from her pocket and dropped it on the bloody tip of the sword.

"Whoops! Guess you'll have to trash it now." Sadie smiled and left Noah to take the body back to the morgue.

_Damn it Sadie. Might as well use the…evidence._ Noah thought to himself as he picked up the Q-tip and put it in one of the special boxes that he carried around. He took one last look around the vault, sighed, and left to test the blood Sadie collected for him.

* * *

"We know it's not visiting hours, but we need to see any guys with stomach wounds, possibly caused by something sharp, like a knife." Izzy explained to a young dark haired nurse with tan skin, possibly one who had just gone through medical school.

"Hey, you're Izzy! And Owen! And Duncan! From TD! I loved that show, especially you with your crazy stories and crazy attitude!" The nurse was now talking to Izzy.

"Thank you! I pride myself on being crazy!" Izzy grinned; half loving that someone recognized her and half wishing to force the nurse to take her to anyone with a stomach wound.

"Okay, last night, this cute brunette guy came in with this other passed out cute guy. However, they both looked kinda beat up and the limping one had a puncture wound in his stomach and was losing blood fast from what I heard. The brunette left, and the limping one is in that last room on the left. I didn't catch their full names, but I think I heard that one of them was named Chase and the other was named Brad. I think Brad might be the one inside that room, but it's just instinct. Hope you find what you're looking for."

"Thank you, uh…"

"Julie. But uh…don't tell anyone I told you what I just told you. It's my job on the line."

"Lips are sealed!"

"Thanks!" And Julie left Izzy, Owen, and Duncan in the hallway.

"Well, I can tell our show was pretty popular." Duncan sniffed the air. "That Julie girl isn't my type though. Too peppy. Ugh, and it smells like rubber gloves and antiseptic."

"You heard her, last room on the left. Let's take a look." Owen started walking to the end of the hallway, and Izzy and Duncan followed him. They reached the door, opened it, and went inside to find Brad starring out the window.

"Um…Brad?" Izzy asked him. Brad faced the three reality show has-beens.

"Can I help you?"

"Izzy Daniels, Owen Green. We're private detectives. And this is Duncan Sanders. A close acquaintance."

"Hey there man. You look beat up." Duncan added.

"Taffy said something about a guy named Duncan. And Bridgette. And a show called Total Drama Island." Owen, Izzy, and Duncan were frozen in shock. Brad continued with his hazy rant. "And she kept changing. She was a talking cucumber, and then a bossy chick. And she had another name too. She wanted me to call her…Courtney." Duncan couldn't take it anymore.

"WHERE IS MY GIRLFRIEND?!" He lunged for Brad, but Izzy and Owen held him back.

"DUNCAN! DON'T DO THAT!" Izzy yelled at him, and the couple successfully managed to calm him down.

"Girlfriend? Taffy's single, at least, I thought so, considering that she was okay with Michael hitting on her."

"Who's Michael?" Izzy calmly asked Brad.

"He—oh boy. He's not dead, is he?" Brad sighed. "Don't answer that for me. I might as well come clean; I already know I'm going to jail. So Taffy (or Courtney), Michael, Peter, an art expert, and I were hired to steal a piece of the Parthenon from an art safe underneath the Franklin Hotel. Peter screwed us over and stole the piece of the Parthenon and locked us in the safe—but not before stabbing me. I tried to stop him, but that sword…" Brad winced and touched his wound. "So Taffy called up this other guy and told him to intercept Peter, and then…she turned into a talking cucumber. Said 'Shall I go now?' for a long time. After a while, she turned into Courtney, and it kept switching like that for the rest of the heist. There was also this woman over the phone, I don't know who she was, but she was instructing Taffy on how to get us out of the safe, but it didn't work. It happened so fast…she stabbed him with my syringe, and she got me out of there to Chase, I think that was his name, I don't know. I passed out in his van. And then I woke up here a few hours ago, and I've been staring out of that window for a long time." Brad closed his eyes, leaned against his pillow, and sighed. Izzy and Duncan were speechless.

"Thank you Brad. Izzy, Duncan, come on."

* * *

"So what you're telling me is that our dead guy is Michael, who was killed by Courtney (who was acting like herself and a "talking cucumber" at once) and gun shots, Peter betrayed them (whereabouts unknown), and Chase (whoever he is) most likely intercepted him, and Brad is willing to go to jail for his actions?" Geoff was on his cell with Izzy, who was at Café Noir with Owen and Duncan.

"Yeah. Now we have to figure out who this Chase person is. He might know where Courtney is, and that could lead us to Bridgette and Trent. Shouldn't we be worrying about Peter though? He's still out there."

"No. I consider finding Bridge, Court, and Trent more important."

"Friends before career. Rare, but admired."

"Hey, don't lecture me on my career decisions. I know I'm putting my job on the line, but I have to find Bridge, before she's…"

"We'll find her, don't worry. And we'll find everyone and we'll all be happy again."

* * *

In Pleasant, Arizona, at Dillard's Auto Service, Jesse Dillard and one of his friends were fixing up a red Ford truck while listening to a rock song in the sweltering Arizona heat, warm for March. However, Jesse stopped working and turned off the radio because he heard the unmistakable sound of a car driving on the dirt road. _Who's here in this heat?_ Pleasant was a small town, so visitors were unusual. However, when Jesse saw the vehicle, a white bus, and heard singing coming from it, he knew who was in that bus and why. He got up from under the red truck, wiped the oil off his hands using a dirty red cloth and left to Elva's Corner Market, where he knew the bus would stop. He saw them, regular people dressed in simple clothes reminiscent of the days of the pioneers, but smiling like idiots, and singing like them too with harmony and everything getting off the bus and into the store. Jesse decided to pick on the leader of today's group, a guy with curly black hair. Jesse made his way into the store after the throng of singers made their way into the shop. The black haired man handed the shopkeeper, Elva Schist, a list of things scribbled onto a lined sheet of paper. Elva went to go get the things on the list. Jesse picked up a conditioner bottle and "accidentally" shoved it to the man.

"Excuse you. Are you going to pick that up?" The man kept singing. "Hey, hey, I'm talking to you. What are you, deaf? Or just tone deaf?"

"Jesse, not in my shop." Elva instructed as he went to load some of the items into a cardboard box, and the man followed Elva to the counter, and Jesse followed the singing man.

"Not in your shop? They wouldn't be in your shop if you'd refuse to serve them."

"Nope."

"You know what they're doing, up in that compound."

"No I don't. Neither do you."

"Or you don't want to know." Jesse picked up a roll of grey duct tape and waved it in front of the singing man's face. "Hey, hey, Osama bin Gandhi, huh, what do you need that for?" Jesse slammed the duct tape onto the counter. "Huh? Or this." He shoved some white rope in front of the singing man. "Hm? Look at me." Jesse had enough. "Look at me when I talk to you!" He shoved the still singing man into the rack of conditioner bottles, sending them toppling to the ground.

"All right, all right, ENOUGH! GET OUT OF MY STORE JESSE!" Elva yelled at Jesse as the sheriff of the town came in and Jesse's friends and the rest of the singers filed out of the shop.

"Trouble?" The sheriff asked Elva.

"Nope. No trouble." Elva tersely responded. Jesse let go of the STILL singing man and watched him pay for the items and walk out of the store, and Jesse followed him and watched the bus peel away from the storefront. Jesse spit to the dirt and went back to the red Ford that needed fixing.

"It's weird. Not so much the singing as it is the smiling. What do you figure that's all about?" The sheriff remarked to Elva.

"Maybe they're just happy Phil."

"Yeah, maybe." Elva turned the shopping list over, and on the back of it were two words: SAVE ME.

"Holy…" Elva and the sheriff looked out the window, of course, to where the bus once was.

* * *

In the Twilight Mall, around 2 PM, Heather was having a meeting with one of her most valued clients, Senator Buford from Arizona. They were talking about the recent discovery of a note written on the back of a shopping list just a few hours ago. "Happy? No. This is something quite apart from happiness. Call it a kind of bliss, an unquestioning serenity. True happiness requires some measure of self-awareness. We're talking about people here who have their—their very wills taken away."

"Imagine." Heather smirked. She was wearing her blood red ¾ sleeve wrap dress and black heels today and she saw how many parallels there were to Buford's problem and her own business in the Twilight Mall.

"The irony of bringing this to you is not lost on me Heather, I promise you."

"It's not the irony. It's just that you're asking me to place a Mankin with a federal agency."

"Indirectly."

"I don't wish to be so venomous, which I usually am, but one of the MANY benefits of having you as a client is to help avoid being tangled with federal agencies—senator."

"It's the ATF! You've been running guns?" Heather glared at the senator for that comment. "Besides, your Mankin won't be working with the government. One of your security guys will be there, and your Mankin will be perfectly fine."

"In a fanatical religious cult?"

"Heather, this…is an election year."

"Okay." Heather understood what he meant, but could care less—at least, that's what it looked like.

"I've got the family value voters on the right, the women's issues constituencies on the left, all of them coming after me if anything illegal is going on behind those compound walls. The ATF is convinced there is. Now we have a very narrow window on this warrant. If the government sends in some wet behind the ears Quantico undercover graduate, these people are going to know about it. I need the real thing. I need a true believer."

"Goodbye Senator." She showed him to the door.

"A true believer Heather. Remember that."

"Of course." He left, and once he was gone, Harold walked to her. "Come Harold. I need to talk to you." After she debriefed him on the latest assignment and planning to use Courtney—again—the two decided to take a walk through the complex.

"I don't like it."

"Good. It's your job not to like it Harold. But Senator Buford is more than just a valued client, he's a well-placed asset, and denying his request would have a secret downside that I would not like acquiescing."

"It's not the job I'm worried about; Chase can handle the ATF, its Courtney. I feel her response has been wildly erratic lately."

"She's demonstrated a talent for adaptability, which is exactly what's required in this Outing." _And something I like about her._

"They shouldn't be adaptable, they should be predictable. If Tyler didn't teach us that much…" Heather stopped walking and the two were now in front of the entrance to the fitness section, where Eva was watching them and lifting weights at the same time.

"I understand you're still hurt from her not forgiving you for switching the votes, (thankfully, I wasn't on your team at the time) but really? It's been a decade Harold, give it up."

"No, it's not that. It's just…sometimes, I worry you like her, as you demonstrated in TDM." Heather forced Courtney into an alliance in TDM, and Courtney had started to grow on Heather—or so it seemed. Courtney was dumped like the rest of Heather's former alliance mates.

"Your objections have been noted. Thank you Harold. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

* * *

During Heather's meeting with Senator Buford, Beth and Cody were in Cody's office, and she wasn't too happy. "YOU HAVE WHO?!?!" Beth was wearing her same coat, but a light green tank top and pink A-line skirt. She was trailing Cody, who was getting ready to mind wipe Trent. Today, he was wearing his favorite red horizontal striped ¾ sleeved crew neck shirt and grey slacks with his classic white Vans.

"Yeah, we have Trent. He came at the right time to the right place. I have to start. My assistants are waiting." He was about to go into the Imprint Room, but Beth grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"Cody, doesn't the thought ever pop into your mind that we're hurting our friends? I know you're over Trent, maybe not, but…it was Katie, then Eva, Justin, Lindsay, Tyler…Courtney, Bridgette, and now Trent. Who's next?"

"Heather wants Leshawna, Sadie, Geoff, Izzy, Duncan, and DJ—"

"So everyone we know."

"That's not what I said."

"But it's as good as saying that! I'm worried, for everyone, for me, for you—"

"I'll be alright." Beth's hand went limp and fell to her side as she loosened her grip on Cody's hand. And once this happened, Cody left into the room. Beth could hear everything…the screaming, Cody's cold façade, everything.

"Cody? What are you doing? What am I doing here?" And then Cody went into his long speech about what he was going to do to Trent, just for kicks because they wouldn't remember. Beth bit back a few sobs. "DUDE, NO! I HAVE A WORLD TOUR TO COMPLETE! AND GWEN! I THOUGHT YOU CARED THAT SHE WAS HAPPY! SHE'S NOT HAPPY NOW THAT I'M GONE! CODY!!!" Trent screamed, and Beth could no long hold back her sobs of anguish. She never had feelings for Trent, but he was a sweet guy, and Cody's coldness made her consider from time to time why she liked him. But then she'd always realize he was still the same sweet guy from TD, before the fantasy became cold reality. She felt the light from the room wash over her, even scorch her a little bit on the inside, so she turned around and left to her office to cry away from everyone else. As she left Cody's own office space, Beth heard the phone ring. Beth cleared her voice and picked up Cody's desk phone.

"Hello?"

"Beth! Where's Cody?" Beth could almost see Heather's fake smile over the phone.

"Mind-wiping Trent."

"Ah yes. Well, can you tell him to meet me at your office?"

"My office?"

"Yes, and you have to perform a second exam on Courtney. I'm planning on having her infiltrate a religious cult on the orders of Senator Buford." Beth understood the senator was a very important client, and Beth didn't dare question Heather after that.

Cody was watching Beth from inside the room. _Strange. Why didn't she leave?_ Cody left the room and walked up to Beth.

"Beth?"

"WAH!!" Beth jumped away from Cody, phone in her hand.

"Beth, what happened?" Heather asked over the phone, hearing Beth scream in fright.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Uh…Cody's here if you want to talk to him." Beth whispered to Heather over the phone.

"Get him on the line—NOW."

"Bye Cody." Beth gave him the phone and walked out of his office.

Courtney was watching her from the first floor while doing yoga with four other Mankins. _Where is she going?_ And Courtney started walking in the same direction Beth was walking in, and Courtney found herself in Beth's office, watching Beth clear away a few more tears from her face.

"Courtney. I was just about to get you. Sit down please." Courtney reluctantly sat down on the chair. "Time for your exam."

"But I thought I had it already."

"This…is another one. Just stay still."

"Okay."

During the exam, Cody walked in, eyes shielded just in case Courtney was undressing for anything. Heather had told him everything about the latest Outing, and he brought his laptop down with him to show to Beth first and Heather when she eventually came.

"Cody, what are you doing?" Beth asked him.

"He looks funny." Courtney giggled. Cody opened his eyes, and he sighed.

"Phew! I thought Courtney was undressing or something—"

"She will be later. Then you can shield your eyes."

"Cool with me." Cody took a seat at Beth's desk, on the opposite side of her desktop, opened the laptop, and started explaining to Beth everything that would happen in order for the Outing to go by flawlessly, all the while with Beth still examining Courtney and Beth inputting her words of wisdom, retorts, and arguments.

After the exam was complete, Courtney put on her teal camisole as Heather walked in.

"Hello Courtney." Heather smiled, and Beth rolled her eyes in disgust, which Cody noticed, and smiled. _At least someone thinks the same way I do._

"Hello. I had an exam."

"That's good. Would you like to have some lunch now?"

"I would." Courtney started to get up and make her way to the door.

"She shouldn't eat, not before the surgery." Beth informed Heather, and Heather followed Beth's warning, despite her dislike. Heather had wanted to possibly see how Courtney's mind worked.

"Courtney, go and have a massage."

"A massage would be relaxing."

"If she were any more relaxed, she'd be ooze." Cody muttered half to himself and half as a joke for the two women in the room since Courtney had left them. Cody was back to his trenchant self.

"So it's doable?" Heather asked Beth. Beth started to slowly pale, but not a lot.

"It's…experimental. And…highly invasive." Beth made her way to her swivel chair tucked behind her desk.

"But doable."

"The actual procedure isn't much more complicated than laser eye correction, it ain't brain surgery." Cody glared at Beth, who was about to sit down, but didn't.

"Actually, it is brain surgery." Beth corrected Cody, and he rolled his eyes in response. "We're going to turning Courtney into a human camera, and to do that, she has to be made blind."

"Not permanently." Cody added. Beth glared at him this time. _Damn. If looks could kill_…"In theory." Cody meekly added. Heather eyed Cody's black and white image being displayed on his laptop.

"So this is it."

"Yes, the latest is CSEVP. Cortical Stimulation for Evocation of Visual Perception."

"Brain camera for the blind." Beth added just before Heather could come up with a smart remark about Cody being too complicated.

"Or that." Cody was sighing on the inside. He wouldn't have been able to handle another one of Heather's venomous retorts.

"And this is what she'll be seeing?" Heather asked Cody.

"Well, this is what the Feds will be seeing. Only less clear once we get it inside of Courtney. We'll be using her eyes as lenses, images will bypass her own cortex and be broadcasted directly back to the ATF. Courtney herself will see no evil." Cody grinned at his own remark. Beth walked to Heather to make a point, a very important point.

"There have been instances of this technology causing aneurysms, and in once case, death. It's possible one good sneeze could—bring on a seizure!"

"Or even worse, a sneezure." Cody snickered, and both women slapped him on his head and said at the same exact time with the same exact intonation:

"Shut up Cody." Cody rubbed his head. _Damn. I like it._

"The risks have been determined to be within acceptable margins. How soon can she be ready?" Heather asked Beth, staring daggers into her eyes.

"I'll need 24 hours." Heather's face brightened, but still maintained her trademark snooty look.

"Good. Clock starts now. Thanks." And Heather left the two in the office, Beth's eyes following Heather until she left the office.

"Did I sense some tension there?" Cody asked Beth slyly.

"Sure you did." Beth went to sit in her swivel chair.

"Well…?" Cody closed his laptop, put his elbows on top of it, and rested his chin on his hands, a grin spreading across his face.

"Well what?"

"Any reason?"

"Like I told you before, it's the people here. And the memories. I have my doubts from time to time, as I'm sure you do." Beth was right, and it made Cody's grin plummet. Even though it seemed like Cody loved his job with a ruthless passion (and a wide grin), he had a conscience just like everyone else who didn't work up top, such as The Sir, Harold, and Heather. _But they actually have something against our TD friends._ The Sir hated all of them with a passion, as did Heather for not seeing that the way she did things was ethical, and Harold, who used to be a nice guy, but proved everyone wrong after a few decisive actions, such as switching the votes on TDI and the evil actions that came later in TDA and TDM.

"And you still hate Heather because of what she made you do back in TDI." Cody leaned back in his chair.

"That too. It's nice to get revenge on her and have her know it from time to time. The good thing is that she can't fire me because she needs me."

"Ooo, are we getting evil?"

"Maybe…" Beth rolled her eyes, smiling. She got up from her seat for no particular reason, just to walk around her office. Cody tagged along, but Beth stopped after a few paces. "Cody, were you flirting with me?"

"Maybe…" Cody mimicked Beth, even down to the eye roll and intonation of voice.

"Practice for a special someone? Isn't that why you have Tawny and Blaire?"

"Well, yeah. And they're really great, but not—not as great as whom I like."

"So who's the special someone?" Beth turned around to face Cody. "Gwen?"

"Nah, I'm over her. We were never meant to be together."

"I can't imagine you trying to flirt—for real, not practice—with anyone else but Gwen."

"But I can." Cody smiled, which made Beth laugh a little.

"Who?" Cody still kept his smile, but something had changed within him.

"You'll see. See you later." Cody made his way to the door, but Beth stopped him.

"You won't tell me who you like? I can keep it secret if she's one of our TD friends." Cody remained silent for a few seconds, pondering a good reply.

"You're smart. You can figure out who it is without me even telling you." And with that, Cody left the office. _But that wasn't practice Beth…that was the real thing._ Cody smiled to himself as he left to go back to his office, hopeful that Beth would figure everything out.

Beth was puzzled. _I wonder who he likes…_She thought it was someone from TD, and she ruled out Courtney, Bridgette, Heather, Lindsay, Eva, Katie, and herself. _Cody only considers me a good friend anyway._ She suspected that Cody might be lying about not liking Gwen, and Sadie was suspect because she was single and beautiful from what Beth herself had heard. But as time wore on, she became less and less sure of ruling herself out as a "suspect". In the end, she gave up and completely focused on getting ready for tomorrow's surgery.

* * *

Six miles outside of Pleasant, Arizona the next day, in an inconspicuous house, an ATF team and Chase were having a meeting. The head of the ATF team, Agent Wesley Hinkley, was leading the meeting.

"This is our target. Calls himself Jonas Sparrow. Real name: Lars Veerson." Wesley held up a picture of Lars's mug shot and gave it to Nadia, one of Wesley's associates to pass copies out to everyone. "Thirty-six years of age, spent most of those years in federal prisons. Last time he was inside, he claimed a conversion experience, and upon release, he joined up with the Zion Ranch, formed a splinter group, they grew in number, and set up shop here." Wesley pointed to an aerial photo of the complex posted onto a clear whiteboard.

"What kind of shop?" One of Wesley's associates, Jerry, asked Wesley.

"Given Lars's history, it could be anything from gun running to human trafficking. One thing I can promise you is that he is not putting hay in a manger." This comment caused a few of the members of the team to laugh, and Chase wryly smiled. "Now our problem has been that we haven't been able to show proper cause for a warrant—until now. Lars never leaves the compound himself, but once a month, he sends his minions into town to buy supplies. They go in groups to watch each other. Apparently, one of them wasn't watching closely enough because one of the faithful scribbled this onto the back of a shopping list." Wesley held up the shopping list, sealed in an evidence bag, with the words SAVE ME written in big letters, to everyone in the room. Chase quietly examined it. "Save me. These two words have opened a small crack in the door, and the judge has agreed to let us do a sneak-and-peek. We have 48 hours to show cause for further action, and the door shuts again."

"Forty-eight hours to penetrate a closed group? To gain their confidence, to get inside?" Nadia asked Wesley. He merely sighed.

"Everyone, this is Chase Orson, a private contractor recommended to us by Senator Buford. I'll let him tell you what he does." Wesley stepped back and let Chase talk.

"Hey there. So what I do…I work with this extraordinary young woman. She's not a law enforcement officer, she's not an undercover agent, she's just a girl, and she's going to help us. Her name is Esther Louisa Applewhite, and she knows these people. She knows them like she knows herself."

"Did she escape from a cult?" Jerry asked Chase.

"No. She didn't escape from anything. Esther's talent is not in getting out, but getting in. And because of this talent, and because of who she is, that is what she will do. She will not arrive there a stranger or an intruder. She will walk through the gates of that compound and be accepted as one of them."

"How?" Nadia asked, highly unsure of Chase's claims.

"Through a miracle. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." And Chase left the inconspicuous house to pick up Courtney, whose surgery to make her a human camera (and blind) was already complete.

* * *

**A/N: **Phew! The CodyxBeth conversation turned out better than I expected. Yup, and you got more of The Company being shown. So more trivia!

All of this was typed up in a matter of hours.

This isn't even the start of the true Outing, that will be next chapter.

If you thought bad things happened in TDI, and worse things are happening in TDA, wait till you see what I come up with for TDM.

There was a cameo appearance by Julie! Hope you liked it!

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!)-"Where I Stood"-Missy Higgins

Couples are still the same, The Company is still the same.

No questions today, but you can probably make them up yourself. So review please!


	13. Purity

**A/N: **Okay! The chapter where the Outing starts!

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED HIGH TEEN (meaning very high on the T scale) FOR HUMOROUS SEXUAL INNUENDO, MENTIONS OF...never mind, AND RELIGIOUS CONTENT. READER DISCRETION, although not necessarily the best way to go, IS ADVISED.**

I made that up, the high teen thing. In addition, there is quite a bit of romance in this chapter, so um...yeah, hope you like it, because I think it is WAY TOO CORNY AND CLICHE, but that's just me, always harping on my own work. So review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

"I can feel the sun. We're headed south now, you made the turn. Means we're getting closer. I really want to thank you for going out of your way." Courtney remarked. Her hair was purposely made greasy and tussled, and her clothes were worn and torn with age and dirt so she looked exactly like her persona: a blind hitchhiker. Chase was posing as one of the kind Samaritans who was giving her a ride to her destination: the compound.

"It's not as far out of my way as you might think. I admire your courage, hitchhiking across the country." Chase recited his lie perfectly.

"Because I'm blind?"

"Nah, 'cause you're a girl."

"I'm a girl? Wow, I've been blind longer than I thought." Chase smiled at this comment, and Courtney somehow sensed this. "Do I hear a smile?"

"You do. So…you weren't always blind?"

"No. The Lord saw fit to take my vision when I was nine." _Religious much? Then again, Cody did imprint her with the persona of a highly religious girl. I wonder…_

"The Lord, huh? And you don't blame him?"

"Blame him? No, I praise him. Saul of Tarsus made it all the way to Damascus after he was struck blind and he became a new person."

"You want to become a new person?"

"More than anything." _How ironic. _The drive was silent until Chase pulled up on the dirt road on the side of the complex. "Are we here?"

"I think so. There's a gate. Looks like it's open, I could walk you there."

"No thank you. I made it this far. Is the path closed?"

"Open the door and you'll step right on it." Courtney opened the car door, but before she stepped out, she reached her hand to Chase's shoulder.

"Thank you and God bless you." Courtney took out her foldable cane with a red tip and started using it to detect any objects obstructing her path, also keeping close to the fence of the compound so she could know where the entrance was. Chase had peeled away from the area by then. Also, a few (which turned into most, then all) of the cult members had gathered outside to watch this stranger walk right into their compound. "Hello? Hello? Please. I know you're there." She could hear their breathing and hushed whispers. Then Lars, who had finished doing some gardening, walked up to Courtney and eyed her. Courtney reached out her hand to feel him, first his shoulder, and then she made her way up to his face. When she felt it, she pulled her hand back and gasped. "Jonas Sparrow. I'd know your face anywhere."

"Hm." Lars kept his cool. "Who are you?"

"Oh, my ID is right here." Courtney fished her forged ID card out of her front jean pocket and handed it to Lars, who then scrutinized it closely, and held it next to Courtney's face.

"Esther Louisa Applewhite from Boston, Massachusetts." He waved his hand in front of her to confirm she was truly blind (he had his suspicions). In the house perched on a cliff overlooking the compound, the ATF was looking Lars in the face—in a sense. "A blind hitchhiker and you got all the way here by yourself."

"I was led…by God."

"And was that God in the car that dropped you off?" He had noticed Chase drop off Courtney, but he didn't know about Courtney's true origins.

"Just…one of His instruments."

"Who told you about this place Esther Louisa Applewhite?"

"You did."

"I've never seen you before."

"But I've seen you. You appeared to me in a vision. You spoke to me. You said a place had been prepared for me. You told me to walk out my door, to not be afraid. You said, 'Come to your brothers and sisters at the Temple,' you said I would be carried here, as if on the wind. And then you took my hand and held it to your face so that I would know it."

"Amen!" The crowd murmured, whispered, or yelled, and they led her into one of their buildings.

* * *

"She's in!" A guy over a walkie-talkie informed the ATF inside the house.

"As advertised." Wesley murmured to himself.

* * *

Courtney and the rest of the cult were inside a mess hall, and while Courtney was getting to know everyone, Lars pulled his right hand man, the curly haired man, away from the crowd to speak to him privately. The man was first to speak. "We shall make a new garden, and fresh buds will flower there, its happening."

"If she is what she says she is."

"Who else could she be?"

"Brother Jeb, I've told you how we must protect the Garden, there are those who seek to destroy it, you know that."

"Yes."

"We are COMMANDED to test all of the signs. If a serpent should enter, we must crush it underneath our heel. You understand that?"

"Yes Jonas."

"We must keep the Garden pure."

* * *

In the Twilight Mall, Nick was taking a shower, and Bridgette had just so happened to walk to the shower next to him.

"Hello." Bridgette offered a smile and a nice greeting.

"Good day." Nick responded. Bridgette turned under the running water, wetting every part of her body.

"The water's warm."

"Yes."

"It feels nice." Bridgette had a small pang in the back of her mind that she like the water, which she did since she was a surfer at heart—or used to be.

"Yes, it does. It feels…" Nick looked down to the shower floor, brows furrowed. He then looked up, a mix of shock and blankness on his face. "Nice."

Up in his office, Cody was talking on his Bluetooth earpiece with a friend of his. He had just wandered to his desk to sort through a few papers.

"For my money, the Valsalva Mechanism is really—" Cody glanced at the surveillance tape of Bridgette and Nick taking their showers. "Hey, w-w-way to go—hey—" Cody snapped into straight posture, mouth wide open. "I—I gotta go. Something came up." Cody ended his call and walked as fast as he could all the way to Beth's office, where she was thumbing through a few of her medical files on the Mankins. "Doctor." He decided not to call her Beth, just because he was so shocked about what he had just witnessed. Beth turned around on the balls of her feet, heels of her black pumps clacking on the buffed wood floor, brown hair, lab coat, and black knee length dress twirling in the self generated wind and looked at him, waiting for a response, trying to keep her cool after yesterday's conversation. He didn't give one.

"Cody." She prompted him. _What's wrong with him?_

"Hello." Cody waved his hand.

"Hello."

"So listen, here's the thing. I was looking—GLANCING—I noticed Nick." Cody was almost incoherent, in terms of speech and hand signals.

"You noticed Nick." She put away the file she was looking and started walking to him.

"Mhm. I noticed him in the shower, and he's…naked."

"Nick's naked in the shower."

"Right, anyways, he seemed to be having a kind of…" Cody licked his upper lip. "Man reaction."

"A what?"

"A…you know, a reaction that a man, person might have in the…you know, naked part—shower—Nick!" Cody was clearly struggling to put together a coherent sentence, because he fired off the last two words without running them by his conscience.

"Nick had an erection?" Beth was able to put together Cody's incoherent thoughts, and she wasn't at all surprised that Cody was nervous. He was still the same immature teen from TDI, so she wasn't at all disturbed by his awkwardness. Cody winced in response to Beth's question.

"I prefer the term man reaction." Now Beth HAD to question Cody's reasoning.

"Why?"

"I-I—" Cody sighed. "This is a problem. This can't happen. It shouldn't happen. When they're in their Mankin state, there's a…limp…ness." Beth went to go get a red file from her shelf full of files.

"Well, I warned about something like this."

"When?"

"His last Outing was with Ms. Lonely Hearts." Beth made her way to her desk and to her desktop, and Cody followed.

"So? That shouldn't matter. Okay, it was a romantic Outing, but he was wiped."

"This is the EIGTH time he's had that exact Imprint. I've cautioned against repeated Imprints on the same Mankins, haven't I?"

"I don't know. You put it in one of those reports?"

"Of course."

"Okay, well, nobody reads those." Beth inhaled sharply through her nose and typed in a few commands.

"How many times has this happened?"

"I don't know, I wasn't LOOKING for it!"

"Well, now you're going to have to. Let's start with the last three months of shower tapes." Beth handed him the red folder.

"We're actually going to sit down and look for—uh…" Cody stopped talking and looked at Beth, almost expecting her to complete his sentence. Beth rolled her eyes before setting her eyes upon him once more.

"Man reactions."

* * *

"Esther, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to be truthful with me, okay?" Lars commanded. They were in a dark room, and he was shining a flashlight into Courtney's eyes. Jeb was also in the room, watching the interrogation take place. Also, the ATF was watching through Courtney's eyes, even though they were blinded by the flashlight.

"Of course." Courtney simply responded.

"You work for the government?"

"What?"

"The federal government, did they send you here?"

"No, of course not."

"And you're not with law enforcement of any kind?"

"No." Lars turned off the flashlight and turned on a ceiling lamp.

"I want to believe you Esther. I want to believe everything you say. It's a beautiful story. But the serpent also had a beautiful story, and the woman was deceived, and the man was corrupted and they were forced to leave the Garden."

"I don't understand."

"I do not come into this Garden a pure being Esther." Lars left to his desk and took his personal revolver and loaded it with a few bullets. "I come into it the way Adam left. Broken, corrupted, impure. But those whom I shelter, they are not corrupted, they have not walked in the world the way I have, they have not seen the things I have seen, and against this world, they are defenseless. So I will protect them, and any who seek to harm them, to foul this Garden—shall fail." He pointed the gun at Courtney's forehead, and although she couldn't see it, Nadia, Wesley, Jerry, and Chase could, and they recoiled slightly at the sight of the gun barrel.

"Elias told me that you saved them. All who are here are blessed." After a few tense seconds, Lars put the gun in a secret holster strapped to his thigh. "Welcome to the Temple Esther, she who was born for a time such as this." He got up from his kneeling position and kissed the top of Courtney's head. "Welcome." And he left the dark room. She looked around, staring at Jeb, hearing him breathing, but the ATF saw past Jeb. The night vision revealed a humongous arsenal of machine guns stacked against the wall, and many more inside some crates. "He is a great man."

"Yes." Jeb whispered. _A great man…_

* * *

Meanwhile, Cody and Beth were in Beth's office, watching the shower tapes, which they had been doing for the past hour or so. Cody stopped being so antsy about watching them, and Beth was dead serious about finding evidence to support her hypothesis.

"Let's roll that back please, I believe I spotted a tumescence at 3:21:04, tell me what you think." Cody quirked an eyebrow, but rewound the clip nevertheless.

"Yeah, it ain't oak, but it's on its way to wood, are we done?" Cody glanced at Beth, and she noticed.

"Go to Wednesday the 23rd please." She walked to the other side of Cody.

"You know, I could burn these and you could just take them home."

"That better not mean what I think it means."

"What DO you think it means?" Cody turned his head to face her, and they were both dangerously close to each other, but that didn't stop Beth from putting together a smart remark.

"That I'm a pervert. Or you want to flirt some more with Blaire and Tawny." She turned her attention back to the screen. "Go back there, mhm—wait, freeze that."

"I will not!" Beth rolled her eyes and moved back to her original spot to the left of Cody.

"Of course. If he'd been a snake…"

"What?"

"Please pretend I didn't say that." Cody smirked in response.

"Scout's honor." Beth locked eyes with Cody for that comment, and remained that way for a few seconds. She gave up the glaring contest and turned back to the screen. "G-g-go back to 17:57:09. W-wait, can you zoom in—to his face?" Cody complied. "Now jump to 24:25:14. Freeze." The frame froze, and it showed Nick eyeing Bridgette from across the open showers. "Well, I guess that rules out Ms. Lonely Hearts."

"Uh…what?"

"It's not residual Imprinting, it's her. It's Bridgette." She pointed to Bridgette taking a shower.

"Whaaaaaaat?" Cody asked, slowly breaking into yet another small smile and tilting his head to the side.

"It only happens when she's there, and it started not long after she arrived." She looked at Cody for a brief moment, but then turned back to the screen. Cody eyed her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the screen. "She's the new element that's been introduced to his environment, the catalyst of his physical response."

"He likes her."

"Yeah." They looked at the picture for what seemed like forever when it was really a minute, and then Cody found he couldn't move his head back into its upright position.

"Uh…Beth? I HATE to break up this moment, but uh…" Cody sheepishly chuckled. "My head is stuck."

"Cody, that's impossible."

"No, really, my head is stuck."

"Cody, I know you like making people laugh and making jokes out of people, but really, don't you think you're being a little desperate? Or is this a new flirting technique of yours?"

"I swear this is NOT a "flirting technique". OW! But now that I think about it—" Beth rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But if this is a joke, I swear—" She put both hands to the sides of his head and attempted to jerk it back up, which wasn't all that hard. _But why does his face feel so warm? Or is it…me?_ "Better?" Cody rubbed his neck.

"Sure, sure. Ow." An awkward moment of silence followed, and both decided to finally speak again—it just so happened to be at the same time.

"So, uh…"

"You first." Cody offered to Beth.

"Do you think Bridgette likes him back? I mean—"

"Wait, you were LOOKING at Bridgette taking a shower?" Cody chuckled. "Because if so, that offer to burn the tapes is still open."

"That is disgusting. So what do YOU have to say about it?"

"I don't know! I wasn't looking!" Beth quirked an eyebrow and he folded. "Didn't look like it—as far as I'm concerned."

"So what did you want to say to me?"

"I…uh…" Beth was expecting a variety of answers, but not what Cody said next. "Forgot." Cody was mentally cursing on the inside. _So close damn it, so close!_

"Okay then…" Another few seconds of silence followed. "We should—"

"Report this to Heather?" Beth gave another look to him. "I meant the—the—the—"

"Man reaction."

"Right. But later, okay?"

"Why?"

"Flirting time with Tawny and Blaire?" Beth gave him a hard slap to his shoulder. "OW!"

"Come on Cody, you know how much Heather hates being kept 'out of the loop'!"

"My answer is still no. Unless you want to be the one telling her…although, I could come as moral support. But then I might have four angry girls coming at me, Heather, Blaire, Tawny...and you." Cody grinned, and Beth could see that if he didn't have his way, he'd do something really, really stupid in front of Heather. And she didn't want to see him get hurt, no matter how big of a jerk he was being right now.

"You're lucky this time." Beth powered off her desktop and left to put away the red file that was neatly closed on the desk.

"You will not be sorry!" Cody ran out of Beth's office. _Already am Cody._

* * *

Nighttime six miles outside of Pleasant, Arizona. The ATF was busily preparing to secure the gun arsenal they had discovered a matter of hours ago, and they were waiting on approval from the judge to go in and confiscate the guns. Wesley was going over invasion plans with Jerry, and Chase was silently eavesdropping.

"When we breach, gold team here." Wesley pointed to a spot on a map. "We need to secure that arsenal." Chase didn't know why the team was going to breach the compound now, because if they did, Courtney would be in big trouble, and he didn't want a dead Mankin (or person, however he looked at it at any given time of the day) on his hands.

"You're going in now?" Chase asked Wesley after Jerry left him.

"As soon as my warrant comes through. Just waiting on the judge."

"Then I need to extract my associate."

"Sure. Let's go knock on the door, let them know we're coming—are you out of your fucking mind? Your girl stays put. She's my eyes in there."

"She's served that function. She's provided enough evidence for you to keep your—case alive." Chase barely restrained himself from adding in a curse word to intimidate Wesley. "Now I would like to do the same for her. In my judgment, this action is premature."

"Your judgment? Come here." Wesley took Chase a few feet away from the hubbub of the rest of the team. "Look, I was told not to be too interested in where you and the girl REALLY came from. No problem, I'm not. What I AM interested in is putting Lars Veerson, Jonas Sparrow, whatever the fuck he's calling himself this week back where he belongs—for good this time."

"Hey, wait a minute. You know this guy."

"Yeah, I know him."

"No, you KNOW him." Wesley remained silent for a few moments.

"Huh. You used to be a cop. Me too. Twelve years, Laughlin PD, and back then, he wasn't calling it a church and they were mostly underage girls. We were putting him away for what was supposed to be forever. Forever my ass. Forever turned out to be just shy of two years. Some judge decided he didn't like the way we handled the evidence. So when this judge calls, I'm not waiting." Wesley walked away, and Chase left the busy house to his car to make a phone call to Harold.

"This is Chase. I need your okay for a forced extraction."

"Courtney's glitching on a government job, FUCK!" Harold yelled quietly in the elevator he was in.

"Chill out, Court's fine. She's performed perfectly within her parameters."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Agent Hinkley. He's about to release the fucking hounds of hell upon that compound. Court's imprint will not have prepared her for this." Silence on the other end. "Harold!"

"Do nothing."

"What? Are you fucking—" Harold didn't want to put up with Chase's disobedience.

"No extraction. Authorization denied." And Harold ended the call. Chase pressed the end button on his cell phone. _Fuck, if the Outing were less dangerous, I'd go in there and do it myself. But I can't. I risk losing my job, my life, and even hers if I'm not careful._ He slammed his head against the steering wheel. _Fuck._

* * *

"In our book, the story of Esther is the story of a woman. Her father died while she was still in her mother's womb, her mother died in childbirth. What was so extraordinary about the Esther of the book was her unique vision. She could see things no one else could. This was the essence of the Esther of the book, her ability to penetrate secrets, to see through the darkness, to find truths others could not. Our Esther, it seems, is no different. She says I appeared to her in a vision. I'm right. You all know me. You know that I make no special claim to revelation, I'm just a man, weaker than most. But my faith is not weak. And as I see this place, and all of you, through Esther's eyes, through her amazing eyes which see things no one else can, that faith is only strengthened. Brother Jeb, would you bring our sister forward?" Lars finished his long speech praising Courtney, and Jeb helped Courtney up from her chair and brought her to Lars. "Esther Applewhite, are you prepared to forsake the world of men, to give yourself your life, your fidelity, and your industry to your brothers and sisters of the Temple?"

"I am." Courtney nodded.

"Return to the Garden." Lars drew an imaginary X on the center of her forehead. "A new beginning." Lars stepped aside to let Courtney interact with the other brothers and sisters in the room.

Outside, the ATF was getting ready to raid the compound. They were surrounding the perimeter of the compound, and a small team was entering through the front gate. However, Lars was prepared, because he had set up trip wires all around the compound, but the ATF and the cult members didn't know about it, so when the lights suddenly flicked on simultaneously, it sent the cult members into a small uproar and the ATF hiding as fast as they could. However, Lars's eyes were faster, and he spotted one of them trying to hide.

"Nobody move." Lars flipped the switch to the room they were in so the lights were off. "Come on Jeb!" Jeb immediately complied with Lars, and they both ran out of the building.

"The grounds were rigged, lights went on, and we were trapped over." One of the team communicated to Wesley and the rest of the team inside the house.

"Copy that. FUCK!!!" Wesley yelled to blow off some steam, making sure the man over the walkie-talkie heard nothing. Wesley turned on the walkie-talkie again. "Hold your positions. Do not breach. Maintain perimeter."

Jeb and Lars reentered the main building, guns in each hand.

"Brother Jeb, go out the window." Lars immediately instructed Jeb, and he complied.

"I don't understand, what's going on, what's happening?" Courtney asked Lars.

"Was this you? Did you bring them here?"

"Who? I don't understand—" Lars slapped her clear across the face, sending her tumbling down to the floor. Lars then forcibly pulled her up from the floor.

"Did you do this? Did you bring the wolves to our door?"

"Jonas, she's our sister!" One of the cult members tried to pry Courtney away from Lars, but Lars pushed her back into the rest of the cult members.

"The truth this time sister!" Lars was about to slap her across the face, but a remarkable thing happened: Courtney gripped to Lars's arm and stopped him from slapping her again, causing the cult members to gasp in shock.

"It's a miracle. I can see." Courtney whispered. However, the ATF was now blind since the camera was now, in a sense, dead.

* * *

DJ, Gwen, Noah, Izzy, Owen, Duncan, Geoff, Ezekiel, and Sadie were gathered at Geoff's house again for a long overdue review of the evidence they had.

"Recap everyone!" Geoff yelled to call their attention. Izzy and Duncan had just broken out into another one of their arguments, but everyone was calm now. "Let's start back in 2009, so Duncan, you've got the floor dude."

"Sure Geoff. Okay, in 2009, Courtney broke up with me because she was pressured by her parents to not be with me. A year later, the law found out I was innocent, and once I was free, I left Canada and moved to LA. I eventually took up a job counseling high school kids at Hollywood High, but not before my share of odd jobs. About a month ago, I met up with Courtney again after saving her from being run over by a bus. She kept asserting she was Simone, but revealed her name was Dana, and she was in the FBI's Witness Protection Program. After I dropped her off at the Grove, I didn't hear from her until I heard about her death the week after I saw her again. And then all of this began, the betrayal, the phone calls, the appearances, everything." Duncan fell backwards into the gray leather sofa.

"'Kay dude, DJ, you're up for the year 2011."

"Thank you Geoff." DJ tersely responded. "So Sadie, Katie, and I went to the same university in New York City. We were getting ready to go for a night out on a Saturday night, and Katie was walking to Sadie's place—"

"We weren't roommates; she chose to live in a dorm, I chose to live in my own apartment." Sadie quietly explained.

"And somewhere along the line, Katie disappeared on her way to Sadie's apartment. We searched for days, but it was fruitless. Sadie went to LA after graduation, and I left to Quantico, Virginia to train for the FBI." DJ neglected to mention the romantic tension that occurred mainly due to the bad memories it brought up and for the sake of time.

"Okay, my turn!" Izzy jumped off of Geoff's gray leather couch. "In 2012, while I was still on the run from the RCMP, I was hiding in Massachusetts. One morning, I picked up the day's newspaper out of the trashcan. I flipped through the pages, and I was about to throw it away when I saw Courtney's picture. There was a small section of the paper dedicated to the car crash she had "died" in the night before. I soon moved out to LA since the RCMP was hot on my trail. I met up with Owen, who was already living in LA and had his own private investigation business, so I joined him in his business."

"Izzy and I solved a ton of cases, but they were boring; the life of a PI isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Which is SO true by the way!" Izzy laughed, and Geoff, Duncan, Noah, and Gwen shot her a weird look.

"I called up Gwen to tell her about Courtney's death—"

"And I told Trent, but news of her death never circulated outside of us." Gwen sadly explained.

"Duncan, Izzy, and I became close friends, and we were also close with Noah, Sadie, and Geoff. Everything seemed fine."

"So one day, I got a call from Geoff. He told us that Duncan knew something about the recent suicide of Simone Peters and would come to us, and he wanted us to record the conversation, so we did. Owen and I ended up telling DJ, Geoff, Sadie, Noah, and Zeke that Courtney had been dead since 2012, but after we saw the picture of Simone—yeah, I knew something was wrong."

"I guess it's my turn. A few days before Simone's suicide, Bridgette was kidnapped. We're engaged, and I won't stop looking for her. Anyway, after Simone's suicide, Duncan knew it was really Courtney, as did Sadie, Noah, and I, and after a bit of interrogation with the help of Izzy and Owen, we ended up joining forces. DJ and Zeke joined after we pulled up Simone's profile. And when Gwen came to us saying that Trent was kidnapped, well, we knew there was a connection between him, Courtney, and Bridgette." A few seconds of silence followed.

"So that's all we know?" Duncan asked everyone.

"Duncan's right, we're missing something." Noah agreed with Duncan in a sense, and Ezekiel nodded in agreement.

"We know that Courtney is a ghost because her death was faked twice, but we don't know about Trent or Bridgette." Ezekiel spoke for the first time the whole night.

"It's—getting late. I should go." Sadie stood up, and everyone else except Geoff and DJ stood up. _This is as good a time as ever to reveal the information._ DJ thought to himself.

"Uh, wait." DJ stopped everyone who was leaving. "I have…something else."

"And you're telling this to us now why?" Noah asked.

"Just have a seat. You'll want to be sitting for this."

"I thought you told us everything that's happened in the past few days; we were just supposed to go over the past just now." Sadie questioned DJ.

"No, it's something else. It might explain everything, it might not." DJ pulled out a sheet of paper from his suit pocket and gave it to Ezekiel. "Read it and pass it around. That list is a list of the whereabouts of all 22 of us. The ones marked with a yes and job occupation means that they're registered in the FBI database—except for Trent because the list is out of date. The ones marked with a no…they don't exist, according to the FBI database, but here's the difference: we know they exist. Now, a few of the people on that list work with a company called Mann Corporation, specifically the Las Vegas branch. I've been investigating into this organization and an illegal part of their company called Twilight Mall for over two years now. This complex is supposedly located within the Las Vegas branch and kidnaps people and wipes their personalities so they can be imprinted with the persona of anyone a client wants. These people, called Mankins, are sold to clients with a lot of money, millions of dollars in fact. I never really understood how these people worked, until I found out that Courtney no longer existed. Even Simone and Dana no longer exist."

"That explains why Courtney was acting so strange when I saw her at the Franklin Hotel!" Gwen exclaimed in shock.

"Well, we know where they are, why can't we just go in there and release them all?" Duncan asked.

"We don't know enough about the complex. There are supposed to be guards around it, and they will shoot on sight, so we might all end up dead if we try to release any of the Mankins. And who knows what the Mankins might be like in their mind-wiped state? And any other workers there? Even the security guy that Geoff mentioned might pose a threat to us."

"DJ, our TD friends are gone." Sadie choked back a sob as she handed the paper back to DJ. "And what they're doing is illegal. I wouldn't want to see Cody, Beth, Harold, even Heather being sent to jail."

"That's what I noticed. This company is doing a systematic extraction of all of us. I don't know the exact order, but Katie might've been first, and Trent is the latest one. Any one of us is in grave danger of being as good as dead, turned into one of their slaves."

"What about Leshawna? Does she know?" Gwen looked up with worried eyes.

"Wait a minute. DJ, if Heather's only the head of the Las Vegas branch, who is the head of the whole company?" Geoff asked.

"Yeah, he's probably the one telling Heather to do all of his dirty work." Duncan agreed with Geoff. DJ remained silent.

"DJ, what's wrong?" Sadie calmly asked him.

"You're not going to like what you hear."

"DJ, I'm sure whoever the head is, it isn't someone bad like Hitler!" Izzy laughed.

"He's not, is he?" Owen asked.

"Depending on how you look at it, he could be just as bad."

"Spill it DJ!" Duncan yelled, unable to take the suspense of who wanted to take Courtney away from him.

"It's…William T. Olias."

"Who?" Gwen and Noah asked at the same time.

"We know him better as…Hatchet. Chef Hatchet." To say that everyone in the room except for DJ was shocked was a horribly SEVERE understatement. They were bewildered, they were murderous, and they were feeling such a mix of emotions because he had ordered the kidnapping of people near and dear to their hearts; Duncan's ex, Geoff's fiancée, Sadie's best friend and Noah's love, and Gwen's boyfriend. Ezekiel was sorry for Bridgette because she was a former crush of his during TDI, and he was good friends with Tyler. Izzy and Owen still had each other, but they were scared for themselves and every single one of their TD friends.

"How—how did all of this happen?" Gwen asked.

"Where did everything go wrong?" Sadie choked back a few more sobs.

"Where's Chris in all of this?" Owen asked, for once actually acting smart.

"Gas man has a point. What happened to Chris?" Noah asked DJ.

"I…don't know. I'll find out tomorrow. For now, we all need to get some rest and get home." And the group disbanded, leaving everyone to deal with their emotions.

* * *

"Hey Beth. Just packing up after a long day?" Cody smiled as he leaned against the door to Beth's office and watching her put away a few files.

"Cody? When did you become so curious?" Beth smiled a little bit.

"Ever since—never mind. Look, I came here to say…sorry."

"For what?" Beth's smile started fading, but didn't fade, not quite.

"For all of the stuff that's happened lately."

"It's fine, don't worry. Besides, there's nothing to be sorry about. I forgive you if that whole neck being stuck routine was really a joke." Beth's smile was gone completely, and she was packing up the last of her things into a black messenger bag.

"Not that. For the stuff I said before Trent's mind-wipe. You were right; maybe we are hurting our friends." Cody walked into Beth's office and closed the door.

"Cody…?"

"I've never really told anyone this, but I've started having second thoughts lately, ever since Courtney started acting up. I'm beginning to think something happened out there when she was gone."

"Cody—"

"I mean, what's happening to Courtney now happened to Tyler before he escaped. And…" Beth looked down.

"Tyler's still out there." She whispered.

"I know."

"You know?" Beth looked up, a look of confusion on her face.

"Heather told me. They didn't kill him. She lied to us."

"Chase thought so too."

"And so did Tawny."

"I guess those two were meant to be together." The two shared a laugh.

"What about…"

"What about who Cody? You and your "special someone"?"

"I guess. Oh, I tried the neck routine on Tawny and Blaire."

"Really? How'd it go?"

"Great, if you consider Tawny almost breaking my neck and Blaire flat out seeing through my trick great." Beth laughed.

"I knew they'd see through that."

"But you didn't." Cody leaned over the desk and close to her face, so close that he could kiss her on the lips if he wanted to. Beth leaned back and started walking around her desk, flowing hair hiding a blush.

"That was my mistake." She was now at the door, opened it, and stepped out of the office. "Don't make me lock you in there."

"Coming doctor, coming." Cody walked outside of the office, and Beth closed and locked the door.

"You know Cody," She turned to face him. "Even after all of this, everything's going to be all right."

Cody leaned in close to her and whispered into her ear, "Now that…you're here." And he walked across the complex and to a hallway which lead to the doors out of the place. And Beth could've sworn she felt the touch of his lips on her cheek right before he left.

* * *

**A/N: **That's right! Chef is The Sir, the head of Mann Corporation. So some trivia bits and answers to any questions you may have!

It might seem like I'm moving the CodyxBeth relationship really fast, but that's for a good reason. Just wait, just wait.

Tawny and Chase are a couple, remember that.

Saul of Tarsus (for the Biblically savvy) is the alternate name of Saint Paul, the Garden is referring to the Garden of Eden, Esther is a Biblical figure, blah blah blah--oh, and the Book is obviously the Bible.

Agent Wesley's last name is the name of a town in California. This town's residents were poisoned by water polluted with chromium six, and the town's struggles were made famous by the woman Erin Brockovich and the biopic based off Erin's struggles (aptly named Erin Brockovich) in bringing justice for the town starring Julia Roberts.

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "Barely Breathing"-Duncan Sheik, "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)-Train, "Fingerprints"-Katy Perry, "Madly"-Tristan Prettyman, "Move Along"- The All-American Rejects, "How Far We've Come"-Matchbox Twenty

Kidnapped/gone list: Bridgette, Trent, Courtney, Katie, Eva, Lindsay, Justin, Tyler

The Company and the couples are still the same. I think I don't have anything else to say, so review please!


	14. Fire

**A/N: **This is considerably shorter than the last chapter, but it still deserves a warning!

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED HIGH TEEN FOR RELIGIOUS CONTENT. READER DISCRETION, although not necessarily the best way to go, IS ADVISED.**

So there's your warning! New episode (the kick-ass one, but then again, all of them are) is premiering tomorrow! Expect a new chapter coming soon! Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter.

* * *

"This is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms! Come out, you're completely surrounded! For your own safety, come out with your hands in the air!" Elias heard the negotiator from the ATF yelling through a megaphone and slinked away from the window of the hall they had slept in the night before. He came back to sit next to Courtney, who was no longer blind, and his sister Anna. After a long moment of silence, Anna decided to talk to Courtney and her brother.

"This is worse than Zion Ranch! Why does he have guns?"

"We have to trust him." Elias responded to his sister. At the same time, Jeb, who was watching near the window, came down and sat next to Lars to give him an update on how their situation was looking and what he should do about it.

"Jonas, you must speak to them, to your people. They're afraid." Lars stared at Courtney for a long time.

"Do you believe it Jeb? Do you believe in her?"

"I don't know, I don't know what to believe. You took her into the dark, you put the light in her eyes, there was nothing, no physical reaction, no change, how do you fake that?"

"And yet she sees." Lars started crawling to Courtney, which caused her to recoil slightly in shock, but remain in place. "Esther, those men outside, I know you didn't bring them. I know you were telling me the truth. They've come to destroy us, to raise the Garden and assault the earth. Esther, before I looked into your eyes, and I saw nothing, and so I believed. And I look into them now, and I need to know…was this a miracle?"

"I was blind, but now I see." Anna and Lars were near tears when Courtney uttered that sentence.

"Then you were brought here for this purpose, so that I might know what to do." He kissed her hand, and the feeling she felt was one of disgust and shock. But she remained calm nevertheless. "And now I know what to do."

* * *

"You've got no way at all to communicate with her?" Wesley asked Chase while they were walking on the outskirts of the complex.

"No I don't." Chase responded. _This guy is pissing me off and fast…_

"So my inside man is worthless, which is what you're telling me."

"She was never your inside man." Chase fired back with a hint of attitude in his voice.

"So she's just another one of them? Fine, that's how she'll be treated."

"Look, you do have someone on the inside: whoever sent out that cry for help. We should try to put a name to that, and then at least maybe we can form a strategy."

"WE are not going to do anything. You are not a part of this, not anymore." Wesley and Chase both noticed two news vans pulling up to the side of the compound. _Ah crap, _Chase thought to himself. "Oh fuck!"

* * *

"It is true. Below us is a cache of weapons Brother Jeb and I have hidden there in case this day should ever come. I prayed it would not, but I always knew that it would, the darkness cannot abide the light. And yet I now believe my prayers were answered. Esther was sent to us in advance of these men, a demonstration of God's power, so you will not take up arms. You will not have to. Come with me." Courtney was relieved that she didn't have to shoot anyone as Lars had instructed, and all of the cult members were herded out of the building and into another one.

This herding was caught by the news crews, and Chris had been watching the TV in his hotel suite when he spotted Courtney being herded out of the building. He immediately called his boss to tell him of her whereabouts.

At the same time, Geoff, Noah, and Sadie watched the same broadcast, as did Gwen (who was at Sadie's home resting), Ezekiel, and DJ (Ezekiel and DJ were at the Federal building downtown watching the TV). And every single one of the saw Courtney. Her face was unmistakable. _Crap, she's there._ Every single one of them thought.

* * *

"I didn't see who wrote the note down; it could have been anyone. There was a bit of a mishigas going on at the front of the store at the time." Elva responded to Chase's question while putting in a few poppy seed muffins in a glass case. Chase had decided to do some more digging on who actually wrote the note; he didn't want to have to kill Courtney or see her being killed.

"What kind of mishigas?"

"Jesse Dillard, across the way at the auto repair shop, he followed them in here and tried to start something."

"Why?"

"Well, they are kinda odd, but there have been a lot of rumors about the stuff happening in that compound. Now, I never believed any of them until I saw that note." Chase, ever the observant one, noticed a surveillance camera perched on the ceiling behind Elva.

"Anyone check the security tape?"

"Well, nothing was stolen and nobody asked. Want to see it?"

"Yeah, absolutely." Elva showed Chase to his office in the back of the store.

"You can watch them here."

"If I need to, say, print anything out, can I do that?"

"Printer's hooked up and everything. Hope you find what you're looking for; I'm still setting up shop, so I'll be out front if you need me. Just holler."

"Thanks again." And Elva left Chase to search through the security tapes. After Chase found some startling evidence, he printed out the picture and immediately reported to Wesley to talk to him about it. Chase came at the right time; Wesley had just sent Jerry away. In reality, Wesley noticed Chase walking toward him, so he sent Jerry away early.

"Okay, you want to go in and get your girl? I'm open to letting you do that—under a couple of conditions." Chase couldn't take Wesley's utter disregard; it reminded him too much of Harold's attitude. So Chase pushed Wesley against a tree and held him there.

"How about these conditions: you stay the fuck out of my way and maybe I won't tell anyone it was you." Wesley lightly shoved Chase off of him, and Chase took this as an opportunity to show off his proof. He pulled out a picture of a man wearing a jacket and a cap, somewhat shielded, but in the camera's view. "You knew he sent his people into town once a month, you were waiting. You stirred up tempers, started rumors in the town, created the diversion, and then you wrote that note. That's how you got your warrant. Nobody asked to be saved—not by you anyway." And Chase left Wesley to sink that in.

* * *

Later that night, Lars had gathered all of his followers into a simple church style gathering, but he was talking to Jeb alone.

"You're witnessing the wonders of the Most High, Brother Jeb. Do not lose faith. Now go." Jeb sighed and left the building to do as Lars had instructed. "Esther, can you read—sight read?"

"It's been a long time; I was nine. Yes." Courtney stood up and took the Bible that Lars held out to her.

"Read that for us." Lars flipped to a page in the Bible, and he left to his place on the small stage in front of the cult members.

"Then Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal, and commanded the strongest soldiers in his army to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace. The furnace was so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took them up. King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his men, 'Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?'. The king's men replied, 'Certainly, O King.' And the king said, 'Look! I see four men walking in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.' Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the furnace and shouted, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out!' So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire and the king saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their head singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." Courtney then noticed the other people whispering, becoming frantic, and then smelled something—something burning. Jeb walked in, his job complete: to douse the building they were in with gasoline, then set it on fire in an act of mass suicide (the suicide reason was not revealed to Jeb).

"We have witnessed more than one miracle these last days. Prepare yourselves for the next." Lars revealed his intentions, and Courtney's mouth started falling to the ground in surprise and shock.

"No, no, no, I wanna leave." Anna, who was sitting next to Courtney, got up and made her way for the door.

"Anna, Anna, wait! Everyone, wait. Lose your faith, and you will perish. Those flames can't hurt us; they'll protect us. Only the unrighteous will be consumed. It's okay. Come, sit." Lars managed to get Anna to come back to her seat, but Courtney was slowly starting to realize that this mass suicide wasn't such a good idea. "Thank you." Lars took the book away from Courtney. _Now the text makes sense._

* * *

Outside, the ATF was preparing a fire crew not to rescue the people, but to find the gun arsenal.

"Fire seems to be contained to our target building." Jerry explained to Wesley. After Chase had left Wesley, he was never seen again, causing Wesley to assume that Chase started the fire himself and was working with Lars.

"No, this might be a provocation, they might not even be in there, and they're trying to draw us out. All right, fire gear, we move in same pattern, this is not a rescue operation, remember, we're still here to serve a warrant."

"Yes sir."

"That security consultant Orson, I think he might've been working with Veerson."

"The security consultant?"

"Yeah, he may be our fire starter. If he's gone in there, we take him down."

* * *

Inside the compound, Chase was dressed in ATF fire gear—mostly. He still needed the full uniform, so when an actual ATF officer came in, Chase quickly knocked him out, took him aside, and ripped off all of his clothes. When Chase reemerged, it was like the original officer was never gone.

Inside the building that was burning, Courtney was watching her fellow brothers and sisters coughing from smoke inhalation and praying at the same time. Courtney couldn't take much more of this madness and approached Lars about a better way out.

"Jonas, Jonas, you have to let them leave here, you have to tell them to—" Lars took her aside, away from the praying cult members.

"Esther, where is your faith?"

"This isn't right, you can't force a miracle!" Lars jerked her even further away from the crowd.

"And he saw that the flames did not harm their bodies nor was a hair on their head singed, and there was no smell of fire upon them."

"These people are going to die of smoke inhalation before the flames—" Courtney fell to the ground, courtesy of another hard slap to the face from Lars.

"If that's what God wants, you pray." And Lars went back to his original position and started to pray again. After a few seconds, Courtney got up, took one of the tall metal candelabra on the table on the stage, flipping the wax tea light candle off of it, and swung it as though it were a baseball bat, the ball being Lars's head. She hit Lars's head perfectly, knocking him out temporarily. The cult members, shaken out of their prayer, gasped.

"GO!"

"SISTER!" Jeb screamed and ran to Lars's body and started praying over it.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU PEOPLE ARE DYING!"

"What have you done?!" Jeb screamed frantically.

"Start taking these people out of here. He swore to protect them, if he won't, we have to." Courtney knelt down so she was level with Jeb. "Jeb, the blind girl is looking you in the eye; do you know what that means? It means God brought me here. He has a message for you, and that message…is MOVE YOUR ASS!!!" Courtney stood up to command the other people to do so. "GO, COME ON!!!" However, even after Courtney herded everyone out, Elias remained and prayed. "Elias, we have to go."

"Where will we go?"

"I don't know, but outside is life, and inside is—no."

"How can you doubt after God restored your sight?"

"Elias, I don't think God let me see again so I could just watch." Elias was deeply offended by Courtney's response, and he spit in her face. It neatly landed on her cheek, and now she was pissed.

"Our home is gone." She wiped it off, and then, ever the strong one, punched Elias across his face with all of her strength. Jeb ran in right after Courtney punched Elias, and the two men made their way out of the burning building. Courtney was about to run too, but a gun cocked behind her. Lars was now awake. Courtney turned around, standing tall in her dirtied white long sleeve button down shirt and sky blue floor length skirt, unafraid of death.

"And He commanded them to purge the evil from their midst." Lars was ready to put a bullet in her chest, but a few bullets made their way into Lars's chest first, and Lars fell to the ground, dead. Courtney turned around to see an ATF officer come in to rescue her—or so she thought. The man removed his oxygen mask, and it was Harold, smirking and grinning all at the same time.

"Our trouble ends here." And he used the barrel of his machine gun to knock Courtney out with a swoop to her temple. After she was down on the ground, Harold made his way out of the burning building, disposed of the clothes, and made his way back to the company jet to fly back to Las Vegas.

* * *

Outside, medical attention was being given to the escaped cult members, and Wesley didn't care about Chase or Courtney's whereabouts (they could be dead in the blaze for all he cared), but as for Lars, he was holding out only a small bit that he was still alive, in a desperate hope for revenge. Wesley told Jerry to call back the ATF officers, and he made his way to the newscasters to lie to them about searching for survivors.

* * *

Inside the burning building, Courtney was starting to come to, only to find ANOTHER ATF officer coming in to save her. This time, it was really Chase.

"I know you. How is that possible?" Courtney asked, breathing hard from the smoke inhalation.

"It's not."

"I thought you were an angel." Chase merely smiled and gave her his oxygen mask before picking her up bridal style and walking out of the burning building.

"Of course, we won't stop until we're sure we've found everyone, but the grim fact is we don't think there are any more survivors." Wesley explained to the live camera crew. The camera man's mouth soon started to drop in shock, because he saw Chase decked out in ATF gear carrying Courtney, but they were indistinguishable in the darkness. Wesley turned around, observed them for a second, and then turned back to the camera. "Thank God."

* * *

The next morning, the awkwardness between Cody and Beth had worn off, and they were back into their distant relationship—somewhat. However, Beth had learned that morning that Cody hadn't told Heather about Nick's erection due to him liking Bridgette until Heather walked into her office the very same morning. So when Heather called Beth while she was performing a physical on Justin (which brought up a few feelings for him back in TDA, but after she saw how mean he was, she fell out of love with him), Beth quickly finished Justin's physical and went straight to Cody to confront him about his procrastination.

"DAMN IT CODY!" She yelled and slapped him clear across the face.

"A little feisty today, are we?" Cody slyly asked.

"This is no time for you miserable flirting attempts! I cannot believe you waited a DAY to tell Heather about Nick!"

"Hey, I had to let it sink it my head before I could tell her!"

"I shouldn't have trusted you. I really shouldn't have."

"Beth—!" Cody yelled at her, but the two immediately snapped out of their argument because Heather and Harold had just walked in.

"Hello." Heather smiled her real, and yet fake smile.

"Hello Heather." Both suppressed an eye roll. Today, Heather was wearing a yellow knit ¾ sleeve V neck shirt, a light brown pattern pencil skirt that went just below her knees, black high heels (ridiculously high, around three and a half to four inches high), a black gem bracelet and a canary diamond ring on her right index finger, meaning it was for show, not because she was engaged. Cody laughed at the thought of Heather being engaged to anyone. Harold stayed on top of a flight of stairs, and Heather went down to the second floor within the office, where Cody and Beth just so happened to be standing.

"When were you going to tell me about this?"

"We found out two days ago, and Cody—" Cody cut off Beth's explanation.

"It slipped my mind to tell you. I was busy with Imprinting the other Mankins. I can't multitask that well." Cody came up with the perfect lie; he had remembered it, he just didn't feel like going to Heather, but he was also Imprinting other Mankins, such as Katie, Eva, and Lindsay. Heather wandered to the window and watched a few Mankins practicing yoga in the center of the complex.

"A place of safety, of untroubled certainty, of purity. This is the world we must maintain. It is imperative that nothing disturb the innocence of life here. Once any temptation is introduced, it will spread like a cancer, and all will be infected. Nick must be Scrubbed, and monitored—closely. Do you two understand me?"

"Yes." Both responded. _Wonder where she pulled that Biblical crap from, _Cody was itching to ask Heather, but he could tell the discussion was over.

"And next time, anything is wrong, you report to me or Harold—immediately. NO EXCEPTIONS." She gave Cody and Beth a cold, hard stare, but the two remained unfazed. Beth was focusing on the Mankins practicing yoga, and Cody was quietly observing Heather's ever changing facial expressions. Harold, however, was grinning like a Cheshire cat on the inside. _Now they'll have to go to me or Heather. YES! _Heather walked up the stairs, beckoned Harold to follow her, and the two left Cody and Beth alone to think about their cold scolding. "So tell me Harold, how was Arizona? I hear it's a dry heat." Harold gave her a weird look. "Don't play fucking innocent with me. You commandeered a company jet last night."

"Courtney was glitching on a government job. I thought I should be on-site in case measures were called for." Harold really wanted to kill Courtney, strangle her, mutilate her, whatever, as long as she was dead and suffering from it too.

"I see." Heather didn't believe a word of Harold's lie, but didn't let it show.

"As always, just trying to protect your interests." Again, Heather detected another lie. She knew people, even as well as she knew herself. People were out for two things: money and power, she reasoned. Heather knew she was out for both, as was Harold and The Sir, but Harold was more driven by power (in this case, revenge over Courtney) and The Sir was more driven by money (power came very close though).

"I'm touched." Heather replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"If I may: Courtney is acting exactly the same as Tyler was before his Fritz. If you're not willing to send her to the Attic—" Heather boarded an elevator to take her to the top floor, where her office was.

"Don't try to act like you know me and my interests Harold, because you don't. Take the stairs." And the elevator door closed on Harold.

* * *

In the Imprint Room, Cody and Beth were standing over Courtney, who had just finished having her Imprint wiped, and was now back in her mind-wiped state.

"Hello Courtney. How are you feeling?" Cody no longer talked with the same tone of voice he used to; it was now very dull due to Heather's evil grip.

"Did I fall asleep?"

"Only for a little while."

"Shall I go?"

"By all means." And Courtney got up and left the room. Beth, realizing she forgot to ask Courtney something, stopped her when outside of the room.

"Courtney, can you see okay?" Beth looked at her questioningly, waiting for a response. Courtney looked down to the ground floor, watching Blaire and Tawny talking to each other, Mankins milling about in their own little world, and Harold, who had just stepped down to the ground floor and was now looking about him, observing the Mankins in their idyllic state. Courtney recognized him, and her hatred (and a little forgiveness) burned inside of her.

"I see perfectly." And Courtney turned away from Beth and walked down the stairs to go for a swim, hoping to meet Bridgette or Nick again. Beth knew something was wrong, and she couldn't shake the feeling that Courtney had seen something, something—or someone—she didn't like. It had been written all over her voice. Beth sharply inhaled, very scared for her future in the Twilight Mall, and briskly walked back to her office, the air around her staying almost perfectly still.

* * *

**A/N: **Some food for thought!

Mishigas-Yiddish for craziness

The excerpt from the Bible that Courtney reads is from the Book of Daniel, verse 3, line 19 (Daniel 3:19 for the Biblically savvy). Words vary from translation to translation if you ever want to read it.

People always want one of two or both things: money and power. That insight is an insight I was taught one day, and I have seen that it applies to EVERYTHING. Just let that sink in for a moment, apply a few examples, and you'll see that I'm right. There are the few rare people who are truly generous, but they're very rare.

No songs this time.

Same couples, same Company, same kidnapped/gone list.

The takedown is getting closer! And you know what that means! This fanfic is about to come to an end. I know you're upset, but I probably have six or so more chapters to go. Just a little heads up for all of you. So review please!


	15. Malice

**A/N: **'ello my fellow droogies. Sorry I'm late, had a pain in the gulliver. What say you on a bit of the ultra-violence? Maybe a bit of the ol' in-out-in-out?

I have the update right here! Last week's episode kinda stunted my story growth because of all of the new info, and I'm waiting on next week's ep for more info and inspiration. I'm taking a turn from the usual copying now that I'm wrapping things up. But the latest ep was very revealing in terms of info, nothing I need for this fanfic however. The warning, because we need another one: **THIS CHAPTER IS RATED HIGH TEEN FOR MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND HUMOROUS SEXUAL IMPLICATIONS. READER DISCRETION** (not really needed this time in comparison to the other times, but it's your call)** IS ADVISED.** Okay, so are we ready? Are we set? Review, disclaimer is in the first chapter...then let's GO!

**PS: What am I referring to in the first line of my A/N? See if you can find out.**

* * *

Chow Soo-Hyun went over a few plans in his mind. He was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, a hotel that had somehow managed to stay alive during the Eco-Recession. He had made the journey from China to Los Angeles a few days ago for a very important reason. Chris had just about exhausted every lead in LA he could find, and now it was time for Chow to put in one final tumbler to lock everything in his plan into place. How did Chow know that it was time to put the final tumbler into place? A simple phone call from two days ago.

* * *

"_Yes Christopher, what is it?" Chow rolled his eyes at hearing Chris's voice, not at all pleased that Chris had interrupted a very relaxing massage—and his admiration of the blonde haired masseuse._

"_I saw Dana on the news today. She's in Arizona."Chow contemplated this. He knew damn well she was there from a very special informant of his._

"_And I'm guessing you're surprised?"_

"_You're not?!"_

"_An informant of mine told me. She will not be there long."_

"_What do you want me to do?"_

"_Go to Las Vegas."_

"_Vegas? What for?"_

"_An instinct of mine. I have a feeling she will be there soon." Chow already knew that Courtney would be in Vegas, again from his very special informant._

"_So why did I come to LA again?"_

"_Do you dare QUESTION me?" Chow's voice slightly rose in anger to make sure Chris would not pursue the subject._

"_All right, all right, I'll go to Vegas." Chow smiled at Chris's compliance._

"_Good." And Chow hung up and eased back into his relaxing massage. _

* * *

Chow's cell phone rang, and he picked it up without fail, not even bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Is he almost to us?" A woman's voice asked him over the phone.

"Ah, my informant."

"Don't give me that crap; I am NOT your informant. So let me ask again: is he almost to us?"

"Yes. But remember, you still have your part of the bargain to be fulfilled: I bring him to you, and I get the girl. No tricks or I will go to…well; you know what I mean, yes?" The woman's lips became thin, wanting to lash out at Chow so much, but couldn't.

"I understand. But if he isn't with us in 24 hours, you know what will happen…right?" Chow was cocky and confident that his plan wouldn't fail; it was practically foolproof.

"Of course."

"Goodbye then." The woman ended the call, and Chow hung up his cell phone and smirked. _My plan is almost complete…_

* * *

The next morning, Courtney and Nick were having breakfast together. It had been one night since Courtney had come back from her latest Outing, but Bridgette was late to breakfast. Then Nick spotted her walking to the eating area, but she sat at a different table by herself.

"Bridgette is alone." Nick commented to Courtney. Courtney glanced at Bridgette, who was now just sitting, seemingly blissful, but at the same time, it seemed fake.

"I like to be alone sometimes." Courtney simply responded, looking back at Nick.

"It's peaceful." Nick sympathized, but only temporarily. "Bridgette sits with us most days. Am I wrong?"

"When we go to sleep, I hear her—"

"Maybe she didn't see us." Nick got up from his chair and made his way to Bridgette, who seemed to be staring into space. He put a hand on her shoulder, and she let out a blood curdling scream. She fell out of her chair and backed away from Nick as though he were a monster. Courtney looked at Nick, then switched her glance to the still screaming Bridgette, then back to Nick. Tawny, who was dressed in tight grey pants hiding her blue skinny jeans very well and a white Egyptian cotton button down shirt hiding her red tank top just as well and black flats came to Bridgette and dragged her away from the eating area. Chase had heard the screams and immediately ran to his girlfriend; he had been watching from the second floor and decided to help her.

"Why do you think she's screaming?"

"I-I don't know, she's just—and—I'm bringing her to Beth."

"I'll get Russell. He'll want to know about this."

* * *

"Do you feel uncomfortable at all?" Beth asked Bridgette after Beth gave a thorough examination of EVERYWHERE in her body. Beth was wearing a black A-line scoop neck dress with a gold ribbon under the bust and a small teardrop jade necklace. Bridgette had been changed out of her blue camisole and brown gaucho pants into a red and black robe.

"No…should I?"

"No. Did Nick upset you, do you remember?"

"Nick wants to pretend." This took Beth aback slightly because about a thousand different dirty thoughts came to mind. She briefly chided herself before asking Bridgette about what she really meant.

"Pretend?" Beth kept a smile on her face, as though she were talking to a small child.

"He pretends we're married." Bridgette smiled, but Beth's smile fell severely. _Oh crap._

"I see. You may go." Bridgette got up off of the examination chair and left the office to go back to her normal schedule of meditating. At this time, Chase and Russell walked in, knowing that the examination was done.

"Something's up?" Russell asked Beth, who was going back to her desk.

"Yes. Bridgette's had sex." It made Beth shudder on the inside, but she managed to keep her voice level nevertheless. This surprised both men greatly.

"No, ma'am."

"You know for sure?" Chase asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Her last Outing was with the governor's niece, tutoring her."

"I examined her post-Outing. This happened while she's been here." Beth coldly explained to both men.

"What did she say about Nick?" Chase asked in suspicion yet again.

"That he liked…to play."

"Wait, the Mankins don't have sex drives." Russell added his few words of wisdom, or what he thought was wisdom. "Isn't that part of the deal?" Beth and Chase looked down, both thinking about Nick's attraction to her. "Wait, what do you two know?" Tawny had told Chase, and Tawny had been told by Cody two days ago while he was still recovering from the shock of this startling anomaly. Chase was first to speak though, voicing his suspicion.

"Since when do you care what happens to her?"

"Since I was hired to. Just because I'm not Andy Griffith with these guys doesn't mean I want to see them abusing each other. If Nick's off-program, he could be Jekyll and Hyde-ing just like Tyler did."

"We can't jump to any conclusions—" Beth was cut off by Russell again.

"No, but we can go to the videotapes."

"How long has she been—?" Chase was cut off by Russell, and this aroused great suspicion in Chase.

"Three days." _A truthful person wouldn't answer my question so quickly,_ Chase thought to himself. "If Nick was alone with her, it won't take too long to find."

"Mr. Benton, when you figure out what happens—" Beth was cut off—again.

"Then I go to Greer! If Nick is playing doctor when not Imprinted with an MD, then he goes to the Attic." Russell left the two, slamming the back door behind him. Beth looked at Chase, worry in her eyes.

"Nick wouldn't…" Chase decided not to let on his suspicion.

"She did scream when she saw him, and we both know he's been…focused on her lately."

"There's a difference between being attracted to someone and hurting them." _I would know._

"Has she shown any other sign; anything you can remember?" He fired the question at Beth to see if she had any suspicions about Russell.

"When we go to sleep…in the pods, Bridgette cries." Courtney was standing at the main entrance, having been drawn to the room due to hearing Russell slam the door.

* * *

"Your flirting skills are starting to pay off! I have taught you well young grasshopper." Tawny grinned to Cody. She had ditched her grey pants, black flats, and white shirt, and she was now in her lab coat and black stiletto boots. Cody, wearing an ocean blue button down shirt over a white tee shirt and blue jeans and white Vans, smirked slightly.

"You didn't teach him anything." Blaire calmly explained to Tawny as she ate some dried banana chips she got from the kitchen downstairs. Her hair was up in her classic Odango hairstyle and she was wearing her white lab coat over her fuchsia tee shirt, dark wash jean miniskirt, fishnet stockings and black pumps.

"Oh, like you did?" Tawny fired back, a fierce glare on her face.

"Ladies, ladies, you both taught me well." Cody went up to the two bickering girls and tried to stop an argument from starting, a sly smirk on his face. Both girls looked at him, then at each other, and burst into laughter.

"Good one Blaire!" They high-fived each other in glee.

"What's going on here?" Cody nervously chuckled, not sure what to make of their sudden mood swing.

"Oh, that was just payback for all of those miserable times you've verbally tortured us!" Blaire explained, a grin just like Tawny's now on her face.

"Yeah, you're now a ton more closer to getting her, feeling her warm embrace, tasting—"

"Don't get TOO descriptive there; he might faint from shock just like the last time you did that to him!" Both girls laughed at that memory.

"Hey, not cool ladies. But…the Codemeister understands and thanks you for the compliment." Cody popped the collar of his ocean blue button down shirt. Both girls laughed again at his miserable attempts to act cool, and Cody didn't even bother trying to stop them from laughing. He waited until they stopped laughing, which took a good minute or so, but it seemed to drag on for eternity.

"Okay, we're done." Tawny wiped a tear forming at her eye.

"We really mean it Cody; we're proud of you. I think you should—" The desk phone rang, interrupting Blaire's suggestion. Cody picked up the phone, and on the other line was a very panicked Beth.

"Cody!"

"Beth! So good of you to annoy me!" Tawny and Blaire looked at each other and immediately hovered over Cody, wanting to hear what Beth was saying.

"Cody, this isn't the time for one of your wisecracks; this is important."

"Asking me out for dinner?" Cody grinned, and both girls' mouths dropped wide open. Now they were very proud that he was being very bold.

"Wh-what? No—"

"But you want to, don't you?"

"Wait…are you asking me? Wait, what am I doing, no, no, no, that's not what I called you about."

"Then what?"

"Bridgette's had sex."

"Holy…crap." Blaire muttered to herself.

"So that's why Bridgette was screaming…" Tawny realized.

"How, who, WHAT?!" Cody practically screamed into the phone.

"Russell has already told Heather, and she wants us both to interrogate Nick. You know, after we told her about his…attraction to her. I'll be up there soon; you know what to get out, right?" Cody remembered the silver suitcase and gear he had just for such an occasion—not the exact occasion, but something along the lines.

"Yeah, yeah, but…that's not—they can't—are you sure this isn't from one of her Outings?"

"Cody, we both know that her last Outing didn't involve any sex, and I examined her post-Outing. It happened here, sometime in the three days she's been here." Beth sighed over the phone. "I don't think it's him though. I just…it CAN'T be. He just likes her, and it's been for a long time too."

"Maybe all of that tension just…built up or something."

"No, if he wanted to do this, he would've done it a long time ago…I think. Heather wants it to be done as soon as possible."

"Will she be with us?"

"No. Just hurry Cody, and wrap up whatever flirting attempt you're executing with Tawny and Blaire." Blaire's eyebrows raised in shock and Tawny's eyebrows furrowed in anger and added in a snarl at Beth's comment. _Is she THAT FUCKING BLIND?!_

"All right, all right, I'll have everything ready. Are we still having dinner together?"

"Fine Cody, just get Tawny and Blaire out of the room."

"You're the doctor." Cody grinned and hung up his desk phone and reclined in his swivel chair. "So how'd that go ladies?"

"GENIUS! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GOT HER TO AGREE—it was kinda forced though—BUT WHO'S KEEPING TRACK?!" Tawny grinned.

"I still can't believe she hasn't realized all of these come-ons mean that you like her. And even with all of those hints you dropped…that one from the other day should've been a dead giveaway." Blaire reminded Cody about his talk with her after they had been given orders to go ahead with Courtney's surgery. He, in fact, had told the two girls all of the come-ons he had made in the past few days, including the talk he had with her at night.

"She's probably denying it or something. Can I get some of those banana chips by the way?"

"Get your own bag Tawny. And no, I'm not getting it for you. Besides, you need to change back into your worker clothes and get Nick up here." Tawny grumbled and walked out of the office to get her own bag of banana chips, after she changed back into her worker clothes and found Nick obviously. "Personally, I don't think she's denying it. She's probably just unsure or something. I mean, you remember what happened between her and Justin."

"I'm not like that though!"

"Hey, she probably knows that, but it's also probably become some sort of defense mechanism against men and their "evil ways" or some other crap like that."

"Some men ARE crap."

"Not you though, and not every man on the planet either. But you should get…ready or something. She'll probably blush when she sees you all prepared." Blaire chuckled softly, imagining the scene in her head.

"Blaire, get the silver suitcase and the eye analyzer. You know where they are. And…another swivel chair. Oh, and you'll have to leave the room when Nick comes in, but…" Cody moved a spare table and set it down so he could have somewhere to put all of the equipment for Nick's interrogation. "Just for all of the compliments and help I've gotten from you; you can hide in the Imprint room and eavesdrop, just be quiet and don't come out unless I give the okay to do so. Besides, I might have some more moves planned after the interrogation." Blaire smiled; glad he was finally becoming quite the cunning planner.

"Quiet as a mouse Codemeister." She set down the silver suitcase and eye analyzer and left to the Imprint room to listen in to the interrogation, banana chips in hand. _This is going to be boring…or awesome, depending on what I find out._

* * *

"So you want me to watch over the interrogation?" Chase asked Tawny as she kept looking for Nick.

"Yeah, I would try to eavesdrop myself, but I'm on the clock right now. I know I should be grateful for having Heather give me breaks at all, but it would be nice if I could do what Blaire does. She does practically nothing up there, except help Cody with the Imprints."

"Well, she has a lot of education in neuroscience, and you don't."

"But I've been learning from them. When I'm on break and I watch them prep a Mankin, they give me lectures and stuff, and Cody gives them from time to time to Blaire, but honestly, who's keeping track?"

"Heather is. Look, I'll keep an eye out with Ramirez's replacement."

"Nick's Clerk?"

"Off on a little vacation with his family—if the guy had one. He used it as an excuse to get a "well deserved" break. It's crap. Hey, isn't that Nick right there?" The two spotted Nick on a couch reading a picture book.

"Yeah. Go and get the Ramirez replacement and watch from outside Cody's office. I'll see you soon." Tawny gave Chase a quick peck on the cheek before they parted ways, Chase going to find Ramirez's replacement and Tawny briskly walked to the couch. "Nick, I need you to come with me please." Nick looked up from his book, closed it, set it down on the grey suede couch and got up. Tawny started walking, normal protocol for all workers who interacted with the Mankins, and Nick followed unquestioningly. They made their way up the stairs all the way to Cody's office, where Beth and Cody were already waiting—but talking away.

Cody and Beth's talk, although short, started almost immediately after she walked into Cody's office with her clipboard of questions in hand. Cody was seemingly waiting for her, leaning against the table, and he was smirking, which made Beth turn a slight shade of red, which in turn made Cody even prouder of himself. Blaire, who was watching from the Imprint room, could already see the tension unfolding.

"Cody." She tried not to make eye contact with him as she walked over to the table and set down her clipboard, looking over the questions.

"Beth." He didn't say much after that, and Blaire was soundlessly sucking on a sweet banana chip. _Come on, make a move already!_ Cody seemed to almost hear Blaire's thought. "So, excited about our dinner tonight?"

"What?" Beth remembered clearly, and was also a little bit excited, but at the same time, she was also scared.

"Come on, you don't remember? You…agreed…to dinner…with me." And with each pause, he inched closer and closer to her until their hands were almost touching. She looked at their hands, then into Cody's eyes, and was just about to succumb to her inner desires and kiss Cody when…

"Hey guys?" Tawny took a peek into the office, and when she saw Cody and Beth so close to each other, she knew something was up. Her eyebrows raised in shock and a smile started forming on her face because she was very proud of Cody. "Whoa, was I interrupting something? Because, you know, I could always send Nick on his way—"

"Bring him in." The moment was immediately dissolved as Beth started to get back into her work mode. Cody sighed and plastered a grin on his face. Blaire was face palming herself in the Imprint room. _Crap Tawny, you just ruined the greatest moment so far!_ "Nick, please, have a seat." Nick willingly took a seat, and with that, Tawny left to get some banana chips from the kitchen downstairs. "Cody, are you ready?"

"Uh…yeah, totally." Cody powered up the machine and held back a joke he was about a few seconds from making just for the sake of not upsetting her in front of Nick. The eye monitor was set up in front of Nick's left eye, and everything was ready. "So Beth, fire away." Cody grinned and watched Nick's reaction to Beth's questions.

"Nick, can you tell me about Bridgette?"

"Bridgette is beautiful." Nick serenely answered.

"There are a lot of beautiful girls here dude; it's pretty much the idea…" Cody looked to Beth, as though looking for an agreement. She just stared at him, trying to muster up a glare, but couldn't. "Beauty." Beth turned her head back to Nick at his response.

"Bridgette is different." This compelled Beth to ask Nick a question not on her paper.

"How is she different?"

"I'm sorry." He couldn't answer the question, and it registered on the machine with a soft ping.

"Nick, do you remember being in the showers with Bridgette? You were watching her? How does Bridgette make you feel?"

"Better."

"I can't believe this. I'm filling in for Ramirez for a week, and my Mankin invents rape!" Joel Quinn, Ramirez's replacement, whispered to Chase as the two watched Cody and Beth interrogate Nick.

"We don't know what happened yet. Nick might have just triggered a memory."

"Well, didn't you hear? Benton's out for blood."

"Russell hasn't found anything on the tapes; no one has." Chase had heard about how Russell was searching for evidence that Nick was indeed the culprit in Bridgette's rape.

"How is that even possible? Every square INCH of this place is monitored. If two Mankins are going at it…what do you think Greer will do? You think she'll come down hard? It was probably just a mistake. These Mankins, they're smiling all day, and then Bridgette's crying in bed? Why always then? Maybe she's broken. You figure she's broken?" Chase then had an idea to prove that Russell was the one who raped Bridgette.

"They're all broken." And he left Joel and started running down the stairs to the sleeping chambers of Bridgette, which just so happened to be Courtney's. He looked around, saw the plants perched on the walls for aesthetic purposes, the sunken beds, the few seats around the chambers for the Mankins to sit on, and then he left because there was no evidence there.

* * *

Beth and Cody found no real evidence to tie Nick to Bridgette's rape, so they sent him on his way. Blaire, who was still eavesdropping, stayed in the Imprint room because she hadn't been dismissed by Cody. She was waiting to see if Cody would pull any moves on Beth.

"So I never got an answer to my question: are you excited about our dinner tonight?" Cody put away the silver suitcase and the rest of the equipment and folded up the table to store away. He would normally have Blaire help, but he couldn't risk blowing off a perfect opportunity to be alone with Beth—in a sense.

"Sure."

"Hey, come on, it's a yes or no question." Beth sharply sighed and rolled her eyes, not at all pleased by Cody's persistence.

"I'll entertain your question: I'm mildly—MILDLY—excited."

"Now that's a lie; how do I know that? I learned that when someone reasserts something, it means they're convincing themselves and the people around them that they're feeling or doing or saying the opposite or a different form of what they really mean. So that means—"

"That I'm dreading it?"

"_Au contraire_, you're dying of anticipation for it."

"That's one way of looking at it."

"So you're excited?"

"Sure. You must have something planned for me."

"Oh yes I do." Cody grinned.

"I don't get it. Why flirt with me, much less ask me out for dinner, when you have Blaire and Tawny and other women around here? And what DO you have planned?"

"Tawny has a boyfriend; Blaire would never want to have dinner with me if her life depended on it (she's told me so once or twice), I don't know the other women around here well enough, excluding the Mankins and Heather, who I would never have dinner with (she's still a snake), so that leaves you. And it's a surprise what I have planned."

"Does it have anything to do with revealing why you're flirting with me, because you haven't answered my question at all?"

"If you have dinner with me, I'll tell you why." Beth considered this for a moment. She was having an argument with herself as to whether or not to go along with this, and she decided it wouldn't hurt to find out why he was suddenly so interested in her. _Besides,_ she reasoned, _I might even find out who his "special someone" is_.

"Fine." Beth started to leave the office.

"Kitchen, 9 PM!" Cody raised a hand and called after her. Beth didn't respond, but he assumed that she had heard him, which she had. "Blaire, you can come out now!" Blaire opened the door and walked back into the office. "How'd THAT go?"

"Great once again. I have to admit, the interrogation was boring as hell, but this after-the-interrogation was like watching a TV drama! That liar stuff, was that true, because I know that thing about me not having dinner with you was a lie?"

"No, that was true, I remember it from a TV show I used to watch called _Corps de Lies_."

"Hey, I took French in high school. _Corps de Lies_ means **Body of Lies**. That was a movie from almost a decade ago."

"That's why they used the French name; the setting was in France and other French-speaking nations around the world. The creators didn't want to confuse the two to detract American viewers since the movie **Body of Lies** didn't fare too well in the box office back then."

"All right, all right, whatever you say."

* * *

Chase ended up walking around the entire complex's first floor, and then he got to the hallways. They were complex and winding, but Chase knew his way through. After all, he had to because he technically worked there.

"Chase! Baby!" Tawny, who was in her worker clothes, ran up to Chase and looped her arm around his. "Whatcha doin' around here?"

"Hey babe. Shouldn't you be watching over the Mankins?"

"I am." Tawny pointed to a Mankin who just walked by the couple. "See, I just watched one." Chase rolled his eyes, but smiled and started wandering the halls, Tawny right next to him. "So whatcha doing?"

"I don't think Nick did anything to Bridgette."

"Yeah, Beth doesn't think so either."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she told Cody over the phone that she can't believe it's him because he only admires her and wouldn't try anything on her. So what are you looking for?"

"If Nick did indeed do something to Bridgette, it would've been caught on the cameras, and Russell hasn't found anything yet."

"Okay…I think I can see where you're going…"

"Well, all of the Mankins in this mind-wiped state. Do you think they'd be smart enough to conceal their actions?" Tawny contemplated this for a second, eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

"Maybe Courtney, but she doesn't have anything to do with this, so my answer would be that they aren't smart enough to conceal their actions. So that means…someone has to be smart enough to stay out of the camera's view!"

"Yeah." Chase stopped at a division in the hallway. To the right was the exit, and straight ahead became a huge loop around the first floor. "Look, there's the exit. And there's a camera up there on the ceiling to the left of us." Tawny noticed the camera and nodded rapidly. "There's another camera in the middle of the hallway, left side of the ceiling. Do you see it?"

"We're being watched back and front." Chase and Tawny walked up to the plate glass window exit and stopped in the line of sight of another camera perched on the left side of the ceiling.

"That camera all the way across the hall can only see so far, so the only eyes are right here." Chase pointed to the camera they were right beside. "And if we step back to the exit…" The couple stepped back. "We're now in a blind spot."

"So someone is raping Bridgette outside! And there's only one person we know with enough motive and knowledge of the Mall to commit such an act." Tawny quirked an eyebrow, and Chase understood. His suspicions were correct.

"I know how to catch our perp." Chase immediately got out his cell phone and called Harold. "This is Chase Orson for Mr. Diamante. Yes; you need to take Nick off the floor. I'm sure. Isolate him…and his Clerk." Chase ended the call. "Tawny, I need you to go and get Nick. There will be someone with you to make sure Nick gets sent to the right place and that Nick doesn't try to escape."

"Baby, why are you taking Nick and his Clerk off the floor?"

"It's the only way the two will be in the clear. My plan…is practically foolproof." Tawny sighed, gave Chase a quick peck on the cheek, and left to go fetch Nick. _I hope so Chase. I sure hope so._

* * *

"I DIDN'T DO THIS!!!!!" Joel kept yelling as Harold and another Clerk took Joel away into isolation. At the same time, Tawny and another bodyguard were taking Nick to his separate isolation chambers, and Cody and Blaire noticed this.

"What do you think is going on between Chase, Courtney, and Russell downstairs?" Blaire pointed to Chase, Courtney, and Russell talking about something.

"More like what's going on in general. I said that we couldn't prove Nick did it, and when did Ramirez's replacement come into the picture?" Cody wondered out loud to Blaire.

Downstairs, Russell observed Nick being escorted to his isolation chambers. Tawny had interrupted a talk she was having with Nick before he was taken away, and Courtney, intrigued, followed the group, and Chase had stopped her, along with Russell.

"Where are they taking Nick?" Courtney asked Chase.

"Why don't you go paint something? Nice work man." Russell spat at Courtney without making eye contact with her, but congratulated Chase before walking off, a sly smirk on his face. Chase noticed this and wanted to punch the guy's lights out, but held himself down.

"Where are they taking Nick?" Courtney asked again after Russell left them.

"Courtney," Chase put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm trying to protect Bridgette."

"Bridgette cries." Courtney looked into Chase's brown eyes, looking for some sort of spark. She found none.

"Not anymore."

* * *

Beth had heard Joel's screams, and it prompted her to step out of her office for a second to see what was going on. By this point, Chase and Courtney had finished their talk, so she didn't see them anywhere. For some reason, she felt Cody had something to do with this, so she left to Cody's office to ask what was going on.

"Cody?" She peeked into the office to see him and Blaire looking outside the window, as though they were looking for something.

"I think I found Tawny! I'll be right back." Blaire rushed out of the office, proud her lie slid by Beth. Blaire would still go looking for Tawny, but she had to leave for the sake of giving Beth and Cody some alone time.

* * *

"Blaire! Blaire!" Tawny came running down the stairs to the second floor to Blaire, who was looking for Tawny on the ground floor. Tawny, of course, was still in her worker clothes.

"Tawny?" Blaire, hearing her name called, turned around to see a panting Tawny.

"We…need…to talk. Now…!" Tawny grabbed Blaire's hand and the two started walking around the first floor.

"What's going on? Do you know why Nick was taken away?"

"Yeah, yeah. Chase has this plan to catch who really did it." Tawny whispered to Blaire.

"Wait." Blaire stopped in her steps. "Nick didn't rape Bridgette?"

"Not so loud!" Tawny whispered and looked around nervously. "It's a surprise, and Russell could be watching right now, or worse, Heather. But yeah, Nick didn't rape her."

"Who did?" Blaire whispered back.

"Let's keep walking." Tawny took Blaire's hand—again—and the two picked up their brisk walking pace again. "So we both know that the Mankins wouldn't be smart enough to conceal their actions, right, because Russell hasn't found anything on the footage according to Chase?"

"So that rules out Mankins?"

"Yup. And who knows where cameras would be like the back of their hand AND who has motive to rape Bridgette?" Blaire stopped in her tracks again, and as it turns out, they were right in front of Cody's office.

"No fucking way. No FUCKING way."

"Yes fucking way! Chase is going to catch him in the act now that the "rapist" is off the floor. The REAL rapist will be so proud that he'll try again, and Chase will be there to catch him."

"That's—" Blaire then heard a woman's voice from inside Cody's office.

"I'm so sure of that. SO sure." It was Beth, and she was in the middle of a slowly escalating argument with Cody about why she had heard Joel screaming. Blaire and Tawny made sure to stay out of sight as they eavesdropped on the conversation.

"Well, I didn't do it. Nick was sent off somewhere, and the same goes for that guy." Cody walked up to Beth, a smirk on his face. Blaire and Tawny were watching this, and Tawny got a sudden craving for popcorn and a slurpee. "But you shouldn't worry about that. What you SHOULD be worrying about is what you're going to have for dinner with me." Cody lightly nudged Beth, which caused her to take a step away from him.

"Don't be an idiot. Aren't you even worried about what they'll do to Nick? Russell wants him sent to the Attic."

"Well, it won't happen. Heather won't take action without hard evidence. Look, I don't know what's happening, but I'll get Tawny and Blaire to ask around; someone around here is bound to know something." Tawny and Blaire looked at each other.

"We're not telling him anything are we?" Blaire asked with worried eyes.

"Correct." Tawny grinned and turned her attention back to the conversation.

"You'd do that?" Beth asked Cody after a long moment of silence.

"Mostly because I want to find out, but for you, yes."

"How sweet…" Beth turned her head away from Cody and started to leave.

"So nine PM? Kitchen?" Beth stopped at the threshold of the door, not even turning around to Cody or looking to her left to see Tawny and Blaire, who were both praying that they wouldn't get discovered.

"I heard you the first time." Beth, thankfully, left to the stairs to her right, not to her left, otherwise Tawny and Blaire would have been spotted. Once they saw Beth walking down the stairs, the two girls went to talk to Cody.

"Nicely played." Tawny grinned again.

"Huh?" Cody asked them, looking away from his desktop.

"Don't play dumb with us. We saw you with Beth."

"That—how did you know that?"

"We were right outside." Blaire explained. "And we weren't caught, which we are VERY thankful for."

"And we don't know who "that guy" is. And isn't Nick the one who raped Bridgette?" Tawny asked, disguising what she truly knew perfectly.

"Yeah. Yeah. But can you ask Chase anyway?"

"I don't think he knows anything. He's just a Clerk. Harold probably put out the order to get Nick and "that guy" taken away."

"No. Harold's not that smart." Blaire quirked an eyebrow.

"Did you just insult Harold?"

"And completely intentional too." Cody grinned.

"Yeah right. But Tawny has a point; Chase won't know anything. You'd have to go to Harold or Heather." Cody winced in response.

"Not planning on losing my life here! Why don't you two go and ask Heather?"

"What?" Both girls asked, shocked. They didn't think Cody would go this far to find information for Beth.

"You're on good terms with her." Cody pointed to Tawny. "And you can support Tawny if she fucks up." Cody pointed at Blaire, and Blaire's eyebrows rose in incredulity.

"I don't think that's going to happen." Blaire calmly stated.

"You think I'd FUCK UP in front of Heather?!" Tawny's temper rose faster than a rubber ball in a low-gravity chamber.

"Tawny, control your temper." Blaire placed her hands on Tawny's shoulders, and Tawny calmed down considerably. "Well, we won't do it either way. Looks like you're stuck." Blaire was sorry for Cody, but she wasn't about to sacrifice herself for him.

"All right." Cody hung his head.

"You know what would be even COOLER than dinner?" Tawny asked the two, a new light in her eyes and an idea in her head.

"What?" Blaire asked, having no clue where Tawny was going with her idea.

"A talk…poolside."

"Poolside?" Cody asked with intrigue.

"Poolside—you're joking, right?" Blaire gave a nervous chuckle.

"No joke. I can clear the Mankins out of the pool area easily, and it'll be all yours—and Beth's. For any kinky stuff, like—" Tawny got a slap to the back of her head, courtesy of Blaire.

"Don't give him any ideas!"

"That hurt! And it can be done very easily. It's all a matter of how our protégé utilizes the moment." Tawny walked to Cody, stood behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder. "And Blaire, my good friend, I have the PERFECT plan." Blaire rolled her eyes and walked to Tawny and Cody. "So Cody, here's what you have to do…"

* * *

**A/N: **Can you feel the passion and tension ready to explode? Your call, not mine! No trivia, no songs, no new couples, same Company, all that jazz. So the rundown is back!

Chow is back in the game! What does he have planned? Who is his mysterious informant? Who raped Bridgette and why? What does Chase have planned for the rapist? Is Courtney going to work her way in at all? What about everyone else? What does Tawny have planned for Cody? What kinky stuff was Tawny thinking of? What goes on in Tawny's head anyway? All of that (minus the last two questions) and more, NEXT!!!

Review, and did you get what I typed in the starting A/N for the chapter? Review please!


	16. Cracks

**A/N: **My fellow readers and writers, I give you the sixteenth chapter! I'm going way outta left field in this chapter, and GASP! I'm including lyrics to a song. I do not claim ownership of these lyrics, just so you know. It's a song that was in **Dollhouse** at the end of the fourth episode. It was so sweet and stuff that I decided to use it as my inspiration! YAY! Song title will be in the ending A/N, so if you ever want to listen to it, you'll have to go through the chapter! We're going to be around the Twilight Mall a lot, and you'll get some new info on a certain female character, as well as...I'll leave that for you to find out. I had a blast writing most of it, a very depressing blast since I probably wrote about 90% while listening to the song featured in this chapter. And it probably sucks since I'm awful at writing certain parts and things tend to not make sense when I write while listening to music, but--I tried my best. And a lot of the parts mesh, so there aren't as many line breaks in this chapter. God, I love that song. **Disclaimer is now null and void since Dollhouse, TDI, TDA, and Mirror's Edge are now in my ownership.**

April Fool's! Hah, if I owned Dollhouse, TDI, TDA, and Mirror's Edge, you'd be seeing more fast paced action, romance, and humor--in all four! And I'd be one very rich writer. But that's besides the point. So review, disclaimer (still in effect) is in the first chapter.

* * *

Chow got another phone call from his informant that made him grin on the inside.

"You are a very lucky man Mr. Soo-Hyun. You have more time to get him to us, another day to be exact."

"Really? And may I ask why?"

"I have other plans that keep me from receiving him. But my deal still remains."

"As does mine."

"I will be sure to keep that in mind. Goodbye." Chow hung up, smirked, and called Chris to tell him of the good news.

* * *

As it turns out, the Twilight Mall had an area for making music, sequestered in a room that wasn't sound proofed for some reason. Mankins hammered away at things like vibraphones, keyboards, triangles, drums, and many percussion instruments. However, there was one instrument that had been collecting dust: the ivory grand piano. Heather got it as a gift from her father, and she was never too fond of the instrument, so she put in there, hoping the Mankins would never use it. They only pressed a few keys from time to time, and very few managed to play a coherent tune on the piano, mostly snippets of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", even the occasional Mankin playing something from "Chopsticks" from time to time. Courtney had never been in the room herself, mostly because she had never known it existed. So it was no surprise that once she found the room while wandering the complex a little after dinnertime, she immediately set her eyes on the ivory grand piano. It was, after all, the biggest instrument in the room.

She sat down at the white rectangular piano stool and looked at the keys, polished and gleaming in the dimly lit room. Courtney softly pressed a key, and when the piano made a sound, she leaned back from the piano, then leaned back in and pressed another key. Her eyes lit up in delight and she started playing a scale on the white keys, then the black keys. Then she looked over the keys again, and a skill of hers had been unlocked: her ability to play the piano. Courtney had learned not only to play the violin, but the piano. She had known how to play the piano since her youth, taking up the hobby around the same time she started learning how to play the violin. She, however, played the violin outside of her home and not the piano, a personal choice of hers. She had thought that the violin would make her look more accomplished in the eyes of future people when running for office or applying to an Ivy League university.

During her senior year, after she broke up with Duncan, she had heard a song called "I Go To Sleep" by Sia and heard the piano in the song. She immediately went looking for the sheet music, and found it, along with the notes to sing the song. Her sadness over her break-up had turned into determination to sing better and play the song completely. And she succeeded. She then sought to learn more songs, but only succeeded in learning one other song before leaving to Harvard: "River Flows In You" by Yiruma. She never played the piano after that, until now.

* * *

"Can you see if the kitchen has the almond-crusted salmon?" Cody asked Blaire while he was working on an Imprint for Eva. She had been called on an Outing to be a private karate instructor for an English billionaire's son. Blaire rolled her eyes in disgust.

"I live to serve dinner." Blaire would try to get Tawny to do it, but Tawny was working.

In fact, Tawny was heading back to Cody and Blaire since her shift was over, but she passed by the music room Courtney just so happened to be in. And what she heard made her stop in her tracks.

Up in Cody's office, Blaire heard the same thing. A music note.

"Hey, Cody, you should check this out." Blaire walked up to the plasma screen TV to see the surveillance footage of Courtney in the music room.

"And hello gorgeous but deadly." Cody uploaded the Imrpint to a disk and took it to the Imprint uploading dock. "What is it Blaire?"

"Courtney. She's at the piano in the music room."

"Nothing to worry about. She has every right to be curious about that piano, but she'll probably give up and move on to another instrument, like the drums or vibes." At that time, Blaire saw Courtney lean away from the piano.

"You're probably right." But Blaire kept watching, fascinated by Courtney's reaction to the piano. "But…why is she playing a scale?"

"Common with all Mankins. It's elementary my dear Watson." Cody chuckled at his own joke as he stored the Imprint disk in a section sequestered for ready-to-use Imprints.

In the room, Courtney stared at the keys. Even though her skill had been unlocked, she didn't know what to do. Then she remembered a song. She made a small smile as she set her two hands in separate positions over the keys, and then she played a tune with her right hand…and then started humming, and was soon singing. Tawny's mouth dropped open. _I didn't know Mankins could play the piano—or sing!_

"Cody, she's playing an actual tune." Blaire pointed to the TV screen with a worried look on her face.

"What—?" And Blaire, Cody, and Tawny heard Courtney sing.

"When I look up from my pillow I dream you are there…with me." And it was beautiful, but it alarmed Cody and Blaire greatly. Tawny was already alarmed, but stayed by the door to hear more.

"Holy…crap…" Cody muttered to himself.

"She sounds beautiful." Blaire commented, Courtney still singing.

"No, no, no, no, this is bad. It means Courtney is starting to remember things. She's gaining skills; skills that should—were—have been wiped."

"Maybe it's from one of her past Imprints?"

"No way. We've never programmed her with the skill to play the piano! I mean, can you hear her? She sounds like she's been playing for years!"

"What if…she has been?"

"But I remember Courtney from TD! She never told us she could play the piano, only the violin!"

"Well, she was a rich kid, right?" Cody nodded. "So she probably learned more than one instrument to impress friends of her parents. It's common with rich kids."

"But you know what this means right? If you're right, then this—" Cody pointed at the TV again. "Means we're going to SHIT! If Heather gets a hold of this, it's curtains for me!"

"Consider yourself lucky. She turned in early. Tawny was on break, so she went to talk with Heather. Heather told her she had a dinner party to go to with her family, and Tawny told me, and now I'm telling you."

"Thank you so much! This gives me time to wipe the footage and…" Blaire put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Just…stop thinking about that and listen to Courtney."

* * *

Courtney started playing the song again, her second time playing. She sensed that someone was watching or hearing her and wanted an encore of her performance, so she played again.

_When I look up from my pillow_

_I dream you are there with me_

_Though you are far away_

_I know you'll always be near to me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

_I look around me_

_And feel you are ever so close to me_

_Each tear that flows from my eye_

_Brings back memories of you to me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

_I was wrong, I will cry_

_I will love you till the day I die_

_You were all, you were all alone and no one else_

_You were meant for me_

_When morning comes again_

_I have the loneliness you left me_

_Each day drags by_

_Until finally my time descends on me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

_I go to sleep_

_And imagine that you're there with me_

Tawny walked into the music room after Courtney had finished playing her song.

"Courtney…" Courtney heard Tawny walk in and turned around to face Tawny.

"Hello. I was playing a song."

"Yes, you were." Tawny smiled.

"Would you like to play?" Courtney moved to the left side of the stool, making room for Tawny to sit next to her.

"No thank you." Tawny looked at Courtney apologetically. She couldn't play for her life.

"Oh." Courtney turned back to the piano, but turned her head to face Tawny. "Would you like to hear another song?" Tawny's eyebrows rose in shock, but settled quickly. _Mankins don't ask questions like that._

"If you like." Tawny could think of no other response, and she sat down next to Courtney on the stool. She started playing a new song, "River Flows in You" by Yiruma to be exact.

* * *

"Well played Tawny." Blaire said to herself, and Cody heard it.

"She's playing another song?" Cody walked to Blaire from the fridge, which he had gone to in order to eat some ice cream bites. "Ice cream bite?"

"Mhm." Blaire took a bite size piece from the box Cody held in his hand.

"God, you're right. She does play beautifully."

"What did I tell you?"

"Okay, this doesn't leave here, and I'll make sure to tell Tawny myself."

"You won't tell Beth?" Cody stared at Blaire for a long time, thinking about Tawny's question.

"I…don't know."

"She hates Heather as much as you do; you don't have to worry about her betraying you."

"I guess you're right."

* * *

"Would…you…like to go to sleep now?" Tawny asked Courtney after she finished playing "River Flows in You". Courtney eyed Tawny as though studying an exotic species.

"No thank you. I would like to play some more."

"All right." And Tawny left Courtney in the music room when she started playing and singing "I Go To Sleep" once more. Tawny sighed deeply before making her way back to Cody's office. _They've probably seen this by now._

* * *

"You know what to do, right?" Chase asked Bridgette downstairs away from the general population.

"Yes. Shall I go?"

"If you like." Bridgette smiled and walked away to the center of the complex to meditate. At the same time, Tawny walked up to Chase.

"Baby, you won't believe what I just heard."

"What?" Chase spun around to face his girlfriend.

"Courtney was playing the piano and singing a song to go with it."

"Really? But I thought Mankins couldn't do that."

"Same here. I'm going to talk with Cody about it. Want to come?"

"Sure." And the two proceeded to Cody's office.

"Tawny!" Blaire ran to her and gave her a hug. "You handled Courtney so well…"

"Thank…you…?" Tawny quirked an eyebrow. "It was nothing, really. But I told Chase."

"You—oh, hey there Chase." Cody stopped himself from yelling at Tawny because he saw Chase.

"What's this about Courtney singing and playing the piano?"

"One of her former skills when she was a regular person was most likely unlocked when she saw the piano. The video is still going, but I'm erasing the footage as soon as she's done playing."

"Right, because Heather will have your neck for it because she's starting to remember."

"Even if Heather likes it, I can't afford to take that chance, not with my job on the line." All four of them heard Courtney, who was still in the room, play more of "River Flows in You". "You won't tell her anything, will you?" Cody was honestly worried for his job and a little bit of him worried for Courtney's well being.

"Not a word." Chase left the three.

"Okay, so you're clear on what you have to do tonight?" Blaire asked Cody.

"Yeah, totally."

"My plan is NOT going to fail, so please keep my hopes up." Tawny sincerely asked Cody, something she didn't do often.

"Got it." Cody grinned, but went back to listening to Courtney sing. "Blaire, can you see if the kitchen has the almond-crusted salmon?"

"Again, I live to serve dinner." Blaire left the office and went to the kitchen to get a plate of the salmon, which was being served. _I can't believe I have to do all of this stuff for him…_Blaire was walking when she almost bumped into Courtney, who was humming a tune that Blaire couldn't understand.

"Huh?" Courtney stopped humming and looked at Blaire, who was very flustered from almost dropping the plate.

"Courtney. You stopped playing?"

"I'm tired now."

"Would you like to go to sleep?"

"No thank you. I think I'll go paint." And Courtney walked past Blaire to the painting area. _What the hell?_ Blaire shook her head a little before making her way back to the office.

"You got it. Thanks." Cody snatched the plate and the knife and fork in her other hand and left to the couch down the small flight of stairs to watch the Mankins milling about.

"Tawny and I are going to get something to eat. We'll be back, okay?" Blaire warned Cody.

"Yeah, go, go." Cody shooed them away. Blaire and Tawny looked at each other, both thinking _what the hell's up with him?_ They shrugged and left to the kitchen.

Cody looked out over the complex, searching for anyone he knew. He could see Lindsay, Eva, Katie, in fact, most of the Mankins doing whatever as usual. His eyes glanced to the eating area, where he saw Tawny and Blaire in their lab coats getting something from the line. He kept eating, and then he saw another person in a lab coat, someone with short brown hair, and smiled.

* * *

"Hey Beth!" Tawny smiled at her while they got something to eat.

"Hi Tawny, Blaire."

"Having a late dinner?" Blaire politely asked, making sure the moment wouldn't become too awkward.

"Yes. I lost track of time."

"Doing what?" Tawny asked her.

"Thinking. Bye girls." And she left the two girls, Cesar salad in hand.

"That goodbye was a little rushed, don't you think?" Tawny asked Blaire. She didn't give a response right away. Blaire was staring at Beth walking away, wondering what she seemed troubled about. "Blaire?"

"Yeah." Blaire absently answered. "Let's go back up." They remained silent for only a few seconds. "Tawny, did Beth seem…out of it to you?"

"She's probably just nervous about tonight. Whatever." Blaire, however, could not shake the feeling that there was something more to Beth's worry. The two were back in Cody's office, and he had just finished his salmon.

"Could you bring this down?" He asked the two, holding the plate in front of Blaire.

"We JUST came back from there." Blaire spat at Cody, setting down her plate of salmon on a table with papers on it.

"Do you want to know how to avoid spandrels when aligning rigid designators?" Cody quirked an eyebrow at Blaire.

"What the hell—?" Tawny was cut off when asking what Cody was talking about.

"You are so DAMN lucky I need this job." She snatched the plate and knife and fork from Cody's hands and made her way to the door.

"Thank you!" Blaire scoffed in response as she left to put the plate, knife, and fork away.

"She gets more irritable at night, especially if she hasn't eaten in a few hours. I thought you knew that." Tawny informed Cody.

"I'm sorry." Cody looked out over the railing to the complex.

"You saw someone down there, didn't you? Was it Beth?"

"Maybe…"

"You stalker! Are you looking for her?"

"No. No, just looking."

"Well, Blaire and I talked to her. Blaire said something was off with her, but I think it's just nerves." Cody nodded in response.

"Can you get me a juice box?" Tawny blinked once, eyebrows raised in shock.

"You never miss a beat, do you?"

"Yup." Cody grinned, now out of his gloomy mood. Tawny went to the fridge to get a juice box for herself and Cody.

* * *

Beth walked down to the kitchen, black heels click clacking on the buffed wood floor. She was nervous and excited all at the same time, but had a feeling something was going to be different. And she was right.

"Beth! This way." Cody quickly grabbed her hand and the two started running to another area of the complex.

"Cody—where are you—what are we doing here?" They had just arrived at the small rectangular pool in which Courtney swam laps in, except no one was here. Cody dropped her hand, took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his jeans, and sat down on the edge of the pool.

"What do you think? I already ate, and I know you did, so I decided to take us here instead." Beth remembered times when she would swim in this pool, back when the regulations were less strict, but that was back then. And not only that, Cody was right; she had eaten already.

"We're not supposed to be here."

"Lighten up. I've been coming here to think for a while now."

"Is that where you went that night after we talked?" Beth took off her black heels and sat down next to Cody, gingerly dipping her feet into the surprisingly warm water. "Wow, it's warm. It used to be cold when I swam here."

"Yeah, I went here. I stayed for a while actually, and then I left sometime around midnight. And after Heather got more money from Chef, she was able to have the pool continuously heated."

"Hm." Beth kicked her feet a little, feeling the water lap around her legs. "Wait, is this place watched?"

"Sure, but I can always do something to the footage."

"Heather would murder us if she saw this huh?" Cody laughed.

"Yup, but not if it's not documented."

"So…why are you doing this?"

"What?" Cody was thinking of how he wanted their talk to fold out when Beth asked her question.

"This. You never answered my question. Why me?"

"I told you. You're the only one who I'd like to talk to."

"And using me for flirting practice?"

"Not this time."

"You're not talking to me for flirting practice? Then what for?"

"All in time."

"Well, I don't have that time. This was really sweet," Beth smiled and looked at Cody, who looked cool on the outside but was stressing on the inside. "But if you're not going to tell me why, then I'm—" Beth was silenced because she suddenly felt a hand grab her hand wrap and lips pressed to her lips. It took her about a millisecond or two to realize that Cody was kissing her and she slowly closed her eyes and melted into the kiss, slowly bringing herself closer to Cody, but soon found herself breaking off the kiss. Her mouth was open from shock and trying to catch her breath. "Leaving."

"Do you want to leave now?" Cody asked her, not even smirking, but his tone carried it.

"No—yes—no…but why did you do that?"

"I think you know why."

"I do—what's that?" Beth had heard something faint, and although it sounded familiar, she couldn't place it. She took her feet out of the water to put on her heels, and Cody quickly pulled his feet out of the water and put his socks and Vans back on, jeans now rolled down.

"What's what? Beth!" She had started running, trying to follow the sound. Cody sighed and followed her grudgingly.

"It's coming from…here." Beth stopped in front of an unmarked door. "The music room." Cody placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm both of them down.

"Though you are far away I know you'll always be near…to me." A woman's voice sang, piano playing throughout.

"Who is that?" Beth turned her head to Cody and asked him. Cody recognized the voice, belonging to a former TD friend of theirs. _Courtney._

"Someone we know." He tersely responded.

"Cody?"

"Hm?"

"I was the "special someone", wasn't I?" He looked at her, a glint in his eyes, and he kissed her again. This time, she pulled herself closer to Cody, and then they both heard sobbing. They broke the kiss and listened through the door.

"D-D-D-D—" And Courtney broke into sobs.

* * *

At the same time, the Mankins were heading off to bed down the corridor to the exit, and Bridgette was in the crowd, black sandals shuffling along the carpeted floor and silk sky blue short sleeve V neck knee length gown chilly against her skin. The Mankins were supposed to head left, but Bridgette fell behind so she was at the very back of the crowd. Where she was supposed to turn left, she saw Lindsay in her pink cotton short sleeve scoop neck (showing off her breasts) knee length gown turn to the right, and Bridgette headed to the glass plate window door. The door opened, and Bridgette stepped outside into the chilly Las Vegas night, unusual for March, and the door closed behind her once she was outside. A man wearing a grey suit and black dress shoes stepped out of the shadows cast by a fire escape across from Bridgette.

"Do you trust me?" Russell Benton asked Bridgette while unzipping his pants and loosening the belt around them.

"With my life." Bridgette responded, trained to do so through the neural responses programmed into her by Cody.

"Do you want to play the game?" Bridgette scanned him with her green eyes and furrowed her eyebrows.

"No."

"But…you remember to be very quiet during the game, right?" Russell started unbuttoning his suit jacket.

"Noise is upsetting." Russell smirked.

"Lift up your dress." Bridgette prepared to lift up her dress and Russell started taking off his suit jacket when out of the shadows behind Bridgette Chase came out of them and punched Russell clear across the face, a punch powerful enough to knock Russell through the plate glass window, which shattered into a million shards that fell to the floor. Russell then fell on them, cutting his face very badly. Chase looked down at Russell, struggling to get up from the bed of glass, and Bridgette stood next to Chase.

"That wasn't quiet." Bridgette commented in her dull monotone voice.

"It wasn't meant to be." Chase responded, and Russell started getting up, showing his bleeding face.

* * *

Beth and Cody had heard the shattering glass, and ran to the source of the noise (holding hands unknowingly) to find Russell on the bed of glass and Chase and Bridgette standing over him.

"Chase!" Beth yelled.

"Dude! What the hell did you do?!" Chase eyed them, and saw their hands gripping tight to each other. _Way to go Cody, way to go._

"Bridgette no longer cries." Chase stepped around the groaning Russell, Bridgette in tow, and the two walked away, not before Chase gave Cody a pat on the back as a tacit congratulation. Beth and Cody looked at the groaning Russell, not being able to speak for a few seconds.

"W-w-we—y-y-you—I—Heather—!" Cody bit his lip in fear of what Heather would do about this.

"Why is he groaning?" A voice asked, and Cody and Beth spun around (letting go of each other's hands) to find Courtney in the hallway. Courtney was in her nightgown now, a silk royal purple spaghetti strap silk mid thigh gown.

"Courtney! What are you doing here?" Cody asked her.

"I'll go and see if Heather is available." Beth whispered to him before rushing past Courtney.

"Why is he groaning?" Courtney asked again.

"Because…uh…he fell. Onto some glass." Cody nodded in an attempt to reassure Courtney. He did not need a Mankin going on the blink, not tonight.

"He fell…" Courtney nodded.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Courtney nodded once more and walked right past Cody and Russell and down the left corridor at the end of the hallway. _He fell onto some glass? What kind of fucking excuse is that?! DAMN IT! _Cody sighed once Courtney was out of sight. _Some night this turned out to be._

* * *

Harold picked up Russell and took him to a separate room, away from the general population. He had also been given orders to find Chase, which he did with ease, and bring him to Heather, who had returned only a few moments ago to find out from Beth that Russell had been sent through a plate glass window, courtesy of Chase. Beth herself didn't know why, but Heather knew Chase and his ex-cop ways well enough that it had been a set-up against Russell, officially putting Nick and his replacement Clerk in the clear since they were both in isolation. _Smart man. I'll have to give him a bonus to appease him. _

Later on, Chase and Harold both walked in to Heather's office, and Heather was looking at their reflections through the large window overlooking the Las Vegas skyline.

"Chase, I am…mildly pleased." She turned around to face Chase and Harold. "Why am I mildly pleased?" She smiled her fake and controlled smile.

"I caught the guy who was raping Bridgette. Shouldn't you be ecstatic, or as ecstatic as you can be?" Heather glared daggers into Chase for his side note.

"I'll let that go…this time. No, Chase, I want to know why. Why didn't you tell US," Obviously referring to Harold and herself. "That you were setting up Benton?"

"He had to be clear. He had to be…flush with success, or he'd never have tried again." Chase answered the question succinctly. Heather turned her back to Harold and Chase.

"You will never take action like that on your own again inside these walls, am I clear?"

"You're clear." Chase smirked, and Harold gritted his teeth in response. Heather gave a side glance to Harold, who she saw was getting upset, so she turned back to them in an attempt to reassure Harold.

"A bonus has been wired to your account." Heather lied in a sense. The bonus wasn't wired yet, but it would be very soon. Chase's eyebrows rose in shock.

"I don't need a bonus."

"Well…I need to give it to you. That's all." Chase eyed her for a few seconds.

"Heather." He gave a small bow before being escorted out by Harold. Harold closed the door and spun on his heel to face Heather. Heather gave a small (huge by her standards) sigh and trudged back to her black swivel chair, heels click clacking on the wood floor. Harold took this as his cue to walk up to her and pose a few questions to her.

"What do we do with Benton?"

"I'll let you know." She didn't even face him when she gave her response.

"And you saw the other thing, the tap?" Heather lifted her middle finger to the spacebar on her black wireless keyboard, and a video popped up on her desktop showing Courtney playing and singing in the music room. After about thirty seconds of listening to Courtney, she pressed the spacebar once more to stop the tap.

In fact, the entire complex was bugged with separate cameras as Heather's own personal surveillance if the original system ever failed. In doing so, she also knew about the development of Beth and Cody's relationship, and Harold knew about it too, but they weren't worried about the development…much. Harold was more stressed than Heather because he thought it would make both of them more susceptible to a sting operation against them, but Heather reassured him that it would never happen.

"Ma'am, do you have an exit strategy?" Heather's eyebrows rose in shock as she turned in her seat to face him. "We have a Clerk abusing a Mankin, a romantic relationship being forged under our noses, a Mankin regaining "wiped" skills, and more. I take much of that as my responsibility," Which it really wasn't, but in a sense, it was. "But The Sir will target you if this all goes south."

"Your concern is touching, but my bags are not packed. You will bring the Clerk to me. And as for your other problem," She looked at the paused frame of Courtney at the piano. "Tell Cody to prep Courtney."

"Ma'am—" Heather snapped her head back to Harold, an evil glare boring through him.

"I believe it is high time someone showed that vile pustule who is the monarch and who is the subject. Tell Cody to prep Courtney with the combat skills set." Harold understood that there was no getting past Heather's orders, so he bowed and left Heather alone in her office. _Vile pustule? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, right…_

* * *

After Heather's tenure in TD, there was no surprise that she was one of the most hated teenagers in North America—nay, the world! By the year 2009, when filming for TDM ended, the TD series had been broadcasted to countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and although there was a lot of debate about the contestants, most agreed that Heather was a sly, conniving bitch. Heather knew this, but it never really hit her hard until she re-watched her first letter from home (the one she got while she was in Camp Wawanakwa) during TDM. It showed her parents…moving all of her stuff…and partying because she was gone. Heather made a wry smile back then when she watched it the first and second time.

_The first time in Camp Wawanakwa, she watched by herself with no cameras watching. After all, they were PERSONAL letters. Heather didn't pay much mind the first time; she convinced herself that the movers were moving her stuff to their separate guest house, which was much bigger than her parents' room, which was her room._

_The second time was different. It was not only her watching, but the entire viewing world re-watching it. As it turns out, Heather learned during TDA that her parents had moved her stuff into a U-HAUL storage space and took their room back and used Heather's original room as more storage space for other things. So to re-watch it during TDM, when every single contestant knew of her conniving ways, was painful for her. She didn't show it, hence her wry smile and a whisper to herself that was picked up by the cameras and the entire viewing world._

"_Are you still happy now that your daughter has been gone for two years?" She got up from her seat and left the tent she was watching it in. _

_After TD, she went on the Internet daily typing her name into search engines, only to find fanfiction and forums all over slandering Heather, in not only different tongues other than English, but in also some of the most colorful usage of English and other languages she ever thought possible. The only solace she got from reading about herself on the Internet was when a few commented on her smartness for playing the game well or felt sorry for her when she had her head shaved or lost her ugly wig or made her change to niceness in fanfiction (only to find out she was portrayed as mean as ever most of the time)._

_If slandering via the Internet wasn't enough for her, it really hit home when it came to school. Her own friends claimed no friendship with her, saying that she was 'too mean' for them after her actions on TD. Heather became very smart after that, being reclusive and the like. _

_Once she graduated high school, she moved to England to study abroad. Her parents paid for everything, so she had nothing to worry about. She was getting accustomed to life there, and even started talking prim and proper like them. _

_After spending three years in England, she got a call from Chef Hatchet saying that he needed a head of his first branch of Mann Corporation, the Las Vegas branch. Heather readily accepted the job offer after being informed of her perks and his reasons for recruiting her. In 2012, she started working there, got adjusted to her job very quickly, and built up the branch to what it is today, exacting revenge on all of her TD contestants._

* * *

Heather, at her desk, closed her eyes and sighed. She remembered in England how she made no friends because they remembered her as Heather the bitch from TD. _It was such a long time ago! _She'd say to whoever would listen, but they didn't care. _They never did anyway. I'm just the bitch._

* * *

**A/N: **Happy stuff or sad stuff first? Okay, happy stuff. You've got a new relationship, FINALLY! I think all of this lovey-dovey stuff might get re-focused onto another couple...you'll have to wait and see which one. Now to the sad stuff. Aren't I such an evil person? I made Heather have a horrible life after TD. But now you know why she talks all stiff and stuff, but that is in part due to the fact that the woman in **Dollhouse **who has Heather's job in this fanfic (God, the wording is so wrong) is British. Gotta keep some aspects of **Dollhouse** since I love the series so damn much. But I gotta say: I'm surprised I pulled all of this music crap out of my head! It's totally deviating from **Dollhouse** canon, but this is a TDI fic, not a **Dollhouse** fic. I realize in retrospect how sappy I must've been feeling when I was writing this, because I would normally never pack this much romance and tradgedy into a chapter. I think my other **Dollhouse** fanfic (I deleted it due to developments in Episode Six; sorry folks!) had permanent effects on my brain. CRAP!

Songs that should be in your mind (because they were in mine!): "I Go To Sleep"-Sia, "River Flows in You"-Yiruma, "Contagious"-Trapt, "Same Mistake"-James Blunt

Same couples, same Company, kidnapped list still the same, blah, blah, blah...

So let's run it down! What does Heather have in store for Courtney? Why did that informant give Chow an extra day? When will we see Chris and everyone outside of the Twilight Mall again? What is Courtney's next Outing? Will Harold ever stop being a Nervous Nelly? What's going to happen to Russell? All of that and more, NEXT!!! Review please, and have a happy April Fool's!

APRIL FOOL'S!!!!


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